Clinical applications and basic studies of laser in dentistry and oral surgery.

In our clinical use of lasers, mainly CO2 laser for oral surgery, we found that the laser had many advantages over an electrome and the laser improved the local control rate for malignant tumors. Low-power laser has been used to treat hypersensitive dentin, to relieve pain caused by neurotic disease around mouth, and to promote the healing of those diseases. The results obtained from the clinical applications showed that irradiation of the hypersensitive dentin with low-power laser was significantly effective in desensitization. An in vitro study showed no effects of diode or He-Ne laser irradiation on the growth of cells, but showed changes in the initial cell adhesion rate. He-Ne laser irradiation to the wound in the skin of hamsters caused to change the activities of the types I and III collagenase. This fact suggest that laser irradiation acted to promote the healing of wound.