Lasers in dentistry

Abstract

Clinical lasers are of two types; soft lasers are essentially an aid to healing with relatively few rigorous studies available to support their use. Surgical hard lasers, however, can cut both hard and soft tissues and replace the scalpel and drill in many areas. From initial experiments with the ruby laser most clinicians are using Argon, CO2 and now NdYAG systems. The first dental laser based on a NdYAG engine provides handpieces of similar size to conventional instrumentation and, being fed by a fibre-optic 'cable', has the flexibility for intra-oral use that the CO2 lasers, widely used in oral surgery, lack. Furthermore, extensive clinical investigation has demonstrated their safety in clinical practice and the fact that procedures can usually be performed without a local anaesthetic is obviously seen as a considerable advantage by patients. Sterilising as it cuts, the NdYAG laser promises to find uses not only in caries removal and soft tissue surgery, but also in endodontics and gingival curettage.

Effect of galium arsenide diode laser on human periodontal disease: A microbiological and clinical study

“…Methods of killing periodontal pathogens, therefore, are of great interest and considerable attention has been devoted to the possibility of using antibiotics or antiseptics in this respect. More recently, it has been suggested that highpower lasers, such as Nd/YAG laser, which emit light in the infrared region may be useful for destroying such organisms, presumably by a thermal effect [8]. However, the clinical use of such high-power lasers introduces problems from the point of view thermal side effects on surrounding tissues [9].…”

Nd:YAG laser irradiation of the human dental pulp: Implications as a predictor of pulp hemodynamics

“…Laser application adjunctive procedures have been described in several studies [7][8][9][10][11]. In a previous study [3], we tested the anesthetic effect of Nd:YAG laser irradiation on the gingival surface and evaluated pulpal blood flow rate and pulpal responsiveness during Nd:YAG laser irradiation.…”

Lasers as a treatment modality for dentinal hypersensitivity

“… It increases the formation of a secondary dentin by the odontoblasts (24) (25)  It obliterates the dentin tubules (26) …”