CLINICAL APPLICATION OF DIODE LASER RADIATION FOR SURGICAL TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH DENTAL DISEASES

Background. Traumatism of surgical operations in dentistry dictates the need to search for minimally invasive methods of tissue alteration. The use of lasers makes it possible to solve this problem, since laser radiation possesses a lower operative injury, selective action and activates the reparative processes in the wound. Aim. To increase the effectiveness of surgical treatment of dental patients by using a diode laser. Materials and Methods. In a clinic, 134 patients from 18 to 82 years of age with various dental diseases were examined and underwent surgical treatment using a traditional method and a diode «PICASSO Lite» laser with 810 nm wavelength from AMD Lasers (USA), with the radiation power in the range from 0.6 to 1.0 W. The criteria for evaluation of the effectiveness of laser application were the data of clinical examination. Results. In comparison with the traditional method of treatment, use of a surgical laser resulted in a less pronounced postoperative edema and pain. The difference between healing time of the operative wound after use of surgical laser and after the traditional treatment was 3±0.5 days in case of suturing of the wound and 7±0.5 days in case of wound healing under the fibrinous film and under the iodoform tampon. The wound defect induced by laser radiation passed all stages of the wound process much faster that with use of scalpel. In addition, selective removal of pathological tissues reduced the likelihood of injury to the oral mucosa, which leads to reduction in the duration of treatment. Conclusions. Thus, the use of a diode laser allows to improve the technique of surgical treatment of patients and increases the effectiveness of treatment of patients with dental diseases.