Since laser therapy has been applied to dentistry, many dental practitioners are very interested in laser therapy on various intraoral soft tissue lesions including gingival hyperplasia and aphthous ulcer.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the therapeutic effect and the harmful effect of a pulsed-Nd:YAG laser irradiation on human gingival tissue. In twenty periodontal patients with gingival enlargement, the facial gingival surface of maxillary anterior teeth was randomly irradiated at various power of 1.0W(100mJ, 10Hz), 3.0W(100mJ, 30Hz) and 6.0W(150mJ, 40Hz) for 60 seconds by contact delivery of a pulsed-Nd:Y

AG laser(EN.EL.EN060, Italy). Immediately after laser irradiation, the gingival tissues were surgically excised and prepared in size of 1mm3. Subsequently the specimens were processed for prefixation and postfixation, embedded with epon mixture, sectioned in 1µ thickness, stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and observed under transmission electron microscope(JEM 100 CXII).

Following findings were observed;

In the gingival specimens irradiated with 1.0W power, widening of intercelluar space and minute vesicle formation along the widened intercellular space were noted at the epithelial cells adjacent to irradiated area.

In the gingival specimens irradiated with 3.0W power, the disruption of cellular membrane, aggregation of cytoplasm, and loss of intercellular space were observed at the epithelial cells adjacent to irradiated area.

In the gingival specimens irradiated with 6.0W power, the disruption of nuclear and cellular membrane was observed at the epithelial cells adjacent to irradiated area.

The ultrastructural findings of this study suggest that surgical application of a pulsed-Nd:YAG laser on human gingival tissue may lead somewhat delayed wound healing due to damage of epithelial cells adjacent to irradiated area.