Hard tooth tissue removal efficiency by single-mode low energy Er:YAG laser

Abstract

The ablation of dental hard tissue by the single-mode (TEM 00 ) Er: YAG laser radiation was investigated. For the first time dependence of removal efficiency of enamel and dentin of human teeth on the single pulse energy TEM 00 Er: YAG laser is represented. Attention is drawn to the correlation of laser energy and micro-craters form. The fact that the efficiency of human tooth enamel and dentin removal by TEM 00 Er: YAG laser radiation are close to each other is deduced from experiments. Removal efficiency for enamel reaches the maximum value at pulse energy near 1 mJ and is equal 250±20 mm 3 /kJ. Removal efficiency for dentine also reaches the maximum at pulse energy near 1 mJ and is equal 265±20 mm 3 /kJ.