NGAP's New Laser Procedure for Extractions
National Greyhound Adoption Program has been utilizing the laser to treat greyhounds' mouths for many years. With the opening of our Dutton Road Veterinary Clinic, we now use our methods on other breeds of dogs and cats as well.
In the past, we used the beam from our CO2 laser to treat badly swollen gum tissue. The gums appear bright red immediately after treatment and although it may appear that the goal of killing surface bacteria has not been achieved, you need only to look at that gum tissue 24-48 hours later and see that the swelling is subsiding and the gum tissue looks healthy and is healing.
Animals with extreme root exposure have to have those teeth pulled or, on occasion, bonded. We will try to bond a tooth when appropriate but we are advocates of aggressive extractions.
Performing extractions is never a pretty sight. Once a tooth is extracted, there is generally some degree of bleeding until the empty tooth cavity has been packed an sutured.
We recently developed a new procedure where we direct the laser beam inside the tooth cavity, which stops blood flow, kills bacteria, helps coagulation and accelerates healing time. In some cases, the laser eliminates the need for sutures.
For a large molars, this procedure is used and the cavities are then packed with gelfoam or a similar product and then sutured.
I know of no other facility that currently uses this procedure, but then again, not every veterinary facility has seven lasers valued at over $200,000! We suggest this as an excellent protocol for all veterinarians doing extractions and hope they will follow suit!
