Abstract
Non-contact laser osteotomy brings new opportunities in maxillofacial and other surgical fields, since it allows very precise pre-programmed incisions of arbitrary geometries. Laser osteotomy is however difficult, because bone is a tough composite material, which is at the same time sensitive to a temperature increase. Besides thermal side effects, practical laser applicability was limited until now because of very low cutting rates and limited incision depths. We discuss how to overcome these disadvantages by means of an optimal arrangement of thermo-mechanical ablation with a pulsed CO<sub>2</sub> laser and with a water-spray as an assisting media. To the arrangement belong optimal duration, intensity and energy density of the laser pulses, as well as a multi-pass cutting procedure. We show that effective ablation of hard tissue with minor thermal damage is possible with relatively long CO<sub>2</sub> laser pulses of 80 μs duration and average laser power up to 40 - 50 W. To overcome the depth limit we have developed a special scanning technique, which allows cutting of massive multilayer bones with a feasible rate.
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