Question

There are currently four areas of dental care that are enjoying the benefits of laser technology:

a) Cavity removal can be accomplished with two currently available (and FDA approved) laser machines;

b) Curing, or hardening bonding materials is another area where lasers have become important;

c) Whitening teeth can be accomplished with special solutions that are applied to the tooth surface in the dental office and activated by laser energy.

d) Periodontal, or gum related care is the fourth area benefiting from laser technology.

For each application, discuss which lasers are being used and why. What are the advantages and limitations of these laser technologies?

Answer 1

Currenlty the lasers in this field are of two types, hard lasers like Carbon dioxide laser, or Nd Yag laser, which offer tough jobs but cost is high and on the other hand there are semiconductor lasers which are soft and used generally for gum applications.

for cavity removal, the CO₂ laser is suitable. It has a very high affinity for water, resulting in rapid soft tissue removal and hemostasis with a very shallow depth of penetration. but, its machinery is costly.

for cutting, we use Nd Yag laser, as it is absorbed by pigmented tissue. we apply pigment to cells and its suitable acts over them.

Dental whiteing is some kind of rubbing of enamel which is very hard and here we use Er, Cr: YSGG (yttrium scandium gallium garnet) lasers and Er: YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) lasers. The erbium wavelengths have a high affinity for hydroxyapatite and the highest absorption of water in any dental laser wavelengths.

as gums are soft tissues, we use semiconductor laser over them.

lasers provide a more acurrate, less invasive treatment of dental problems. But, on the other side machinery cost, different radiation and safety protocols etc put some limitiation on their use. But overall, the lasers are slowly replacing conventional mode of treatment with the course of time.