Abstract
The Author examined the clinical and histological changes on the dorsal tongue mucosa of the adult rats after lasing by pulsed Nd:YAG laser and incising with scalpel. The dorsal tongue was lased through 320$\mu\textrm{m}$optic fiber moving 2.5mm/second to make linear incision 5mm. The five conditions of lasing were three application with 1.0W, 1.75W, 3.0W and 3.0W under saline cooling, and single application with 3.0W at 20Hz. With scalpel, linear incisions through the surface epithelium were performed to 5mm in length. After observing the clinical changes of the incised wounds, the animals were sacrified and the tissues were excised to make the tissue specimens. The stained microscopic tissue slide were observed histologically under the microscope. The following results were obtained : 1. While incision with scalpel causes severe bleeding, lasing does not cause bleeding. 2. In three applications with 1.75W and 20Hz, tissue ablation was limited to areas contacted with optic fiber. 3. In three applications with 3.0W and 20Hz, deep incised wound, extensive destruction of the adjacent epithelium and charring were observed. 4. In three applications with 3.0W and 20Hz under saline cooling, tissue ablation was limite to the superficial mucosa and charring was not observed. 5. In single application with 3.0W and 20Hz, the shape of the incised wound was similar to that of the scalpel incision.