What is Laser Dentistry?

Laser dentistry incorporates state-of-the-art technology in various aspects of dental health practice and treatment. Although laser dentistry may improve the precision of your treatment while minimizing pain and recovery time, the technology has yet to break into the mainstream of dentistry.

Why Laser Dentistry?

Laser dentistry is viewed by some as a precise and effective way to perform many dental procedures. Those seeking extreme safety and comfort may select a laser dentistry option. The potential for laser dentistry to improve dental treatment comes from the precision with which lasers can treat an area of focus, the control that laser dentists have over power output, and the duration of exposure on the skin.

Here are some of the major benefits associated with laser dentistry:

• Procedures performed using dental lasers may not require sutures.
• Certain laser dentistry procedures do not require anesthesia.
• Laser dentistry minimizes bleeding because the high-energy light beam
aids in the clotting (coagulation) of exposed blood vessels, thus inhibiting
blood loss.
• Bacterial infections are minimized because the high-energy beam sterilizes
the area being worked on.
• Damage to surrounding tissue is minimized.
• Wounds heal faster and tissues can be regenerated.

Hard and Soft Tissue Dental Lasers
A wide variety of lasers are used to diagnose, assist, and perform various dental procedures. However, we generally speak of two broad categories of lasers:

Hard Tissue Lasers:The primary use of hard tissue lasers is to cut precisely into bone and teeth. Hard tissue lasers are often used to prep teeth for bonding, remove small amounts of tooth structure, and repair certain worn-down dental fillings.

Soft Tissue Lasers: These lasers penetrate soft tissue while sealing blood vessels and nerve endings. This is the primary reason why many people experience virtually no postoperative pain following the use of a laser. Also, soft tissue lasers allow tissues to heal faster.

Dental lasers are not appropriate to use for the replacement of amalgam fillings, onlays, or crowns.

Laser Dentistry Treatment Improvements

The application of lasers in dentistry opens the door for dentists to perform a wide variety of dental procedures they otherwise may not be capable of performing. Dentists using lasers in dentistry have become adept at incorporating the state-of-the-art precision technology into a number of common and not-so-common procedures:

Cavity Detector: Low intensity soft tissue dental lasers may be used for the early detection of cavities by providing a reading of the by-products produced by decay.

Beginning Tumors: Dental lasers may be used for the painless and suture-free removal of benign tumors from the gums, palate, sides of cheeks, and lips.

Teeth Whitening: Low intensity soft tissue dental lasers may be used to speed up the bleaching process associated with teeth whitening.

Tooth Sensitivity: Dental lasers may be used to seal tubules (located on the root of the tooth) that are responsible for hot and cold tooth sensitivity.

Dental Fillings: Hard tissue dental lasers may eliminate the need for a local anesthetic injection and the traditional turbine drill. Lasers used in dental filling procedures are capable of killing bacteria located in a cavity and this may lead to better long-term tooth restorations.

Gummy Smile: Dental lasers can reshape gum tissue to expose healthy tooth structure and improve the appearance of a gummy smile.

Cold Sores: Low intensity dental lasers reduce pain associated with cold sores and minimize healing time.

Viewing Teeth and Gum Tissues: Optical Coherence Tomography is a safer way to see inside teeth and gums in real time.

Crown Lengthening: Dental lasers can reshape gum tissue and bone to expose healthier tooth structure. Called crown lengthening, such reshaping provides a stronger foundation for a restoration.

Muscle Attachment: A laser frenectomy is an ideal treatment option for children who are tongue -tied (Frenula --restricted or tight frenulum) and babies unable to breast feed adequately due to limited tongue movement. A laser frenectomy may also help to eliminate speech impediments.

Nerve Regeneration: Photobiomodulation can be used to regenerate damaged nerves, blood vessels, and scars.

Soft Tissue Folds: Dental lasers may be used for the painless and suture-free removal of soft tissue folds (Epulis) often caused by ill-fitting dentures.

Temporomandibular Joint Treatment: Dental lasers may be used to quickly reduce pain and inflammation of the temporo mandibular jaw (TMJ) joint.