A Clinical Study of Treatment Using Carbon Dioxide Laser for Adhesion Abnormality of Frenulum

Abstract

In recent years, laser technology has been widely used in dental and oral treatment and maxillofacial surgery, and many researchers and clinicians have reported its utility. Because carbon dioxide (CO₂) lasers achieve excellent hemostasis and cause relatively low heat aggression to the surrounding tissue by laser irradiation, there is little postoperative scar formation with these lasers, and the wound healing is good. Therefore, CO₂ lasers are actively used for the excision and evaporation of soft tissue lesions. In this study, we examined the outcomes of cases treated with CO₂ lasers for adhesion abnormalities of the frenulum.
We evaluated 30 cases that received a checkup at Kobe University Hospital for adhesion abnormalities of the frenulum from March 2010 to March 2015 and were operated on using CO₂ lasers. We collected and evaluated the following clinical data: sex, age, site of the frenulum adhesion abnormality, reason for consultation, severity classification, and postoperative course. Regarding the breakdown of the 30 cases, 14 were males and 16 were females, and their ages ranged from 8 months to 69 years. Regarding the breakdown of the site of the frenulum adhesion abnormality, 20 were at the lingual frenulum, 8 were at the upper labial frenulum, and 2 were at the buccal frenulum. Regarding the reasons for consultation, 10 cases (33.3%) were discovered during periodic health checks at school or during a dental clinic consultation, and 9 cases (30.0%) were referred by an orthodontic clinic. Based on the severity classification, many operations for lingual and upper labial frenulum sites were carried out in patients ＜10 years of age, and their disease severity tended to be below the intermediate level. Regarding the postoperative course, there were no cases of serious bleeding or swelling, and the pain was controlled in all cases using internal pain-killers. Furthermore, there were no cases of wound infection or healing delay after surgery, although re-adhesion ultimately occurred in one case after the excision of the lingual frenulum. In conclusion, CO₂ laser excision is suggested to be a useful therapy for both frenulum excision and excision of other oral soft tissue lesions, since the procedure is simple and causes few intraoperative and postoperative complications.