Laser Vs Conventional Technique

• Procedures performed using soft tissue dental lasers may not require sutures (stitches).
• 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.
• Reduced swelling
• Less painful post-operatively
• More sterile (laser tip sterilizes itself in operation)

Use of soft tissue laser in dental procedures

• Crown Lengthening: Dental lasers can reshape gum tissue (soft tissue laser) and bone (hard tissue laser) to expose healthier tooth structure. Referred to as crown lengthening, such reshaping provides a stronger foundation for the placement of restorations.
• Gummy Smile: Dental lasers can reshape gum tissue to expose healthy tooth structure and improve the appearance of a gummy smile.
• Muscle Attachment (Frenula): A laser frenectomy is an ideal treatment option for children who are tongue tied (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
• Soft Tissue Folds (Epulis): Dental lasers may be used for the painless and suture-free removal of soft tissue folds often caused by ill-fitting dentures.
• Tooth implant :Your functional and esthetic solution to missing teeth.
• Viewing Tooth and Gum Tissues: Optical Coherence Tomography is a safer way to see inside tooth and gums in real time.
• Benign 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.
• Cold Sores: Low intensity dental lasers reduce pain associated with cold sores and minimize healing time.
• Nerve Regeneration: Photobiomodulation can be used to regenerate damaged nerves, blood vessels and scars.
• Sleep Apnea: In cases where sleep apnea is a result of a tissue overgrowth in areas of the throat (which sometimes occurs with age), a laser assisted uvuloplasty or laser assisted uvula palatoplasty (LAUP) procedure can be performed to reshape the throat and relieve the correlating breathing problems associated with sleep apnea.
• Teeth Whitening: Low intensity soft tissue dental lasers may be used to speed up the bleaching process associated with teeth whitening.
• Desensetizing teeth: Another breakthrough is the capability to desensitize teeth which is simple and effective.

Leukoplakia

A condition of the presence of patches on the mucous membrane of the oral cavity is known as leukoplakia. It may also be considered as precancerous. For that leukoplakia that occurs in the tongue and buccal mucosa, laser vaporization or excision surgery is the suitable procedure.

It is a relatively simple procedure that can be done as a day case with the usage of local anesthetic. The prevalence of leukoplakia varies between 1% and 5% in adult population. For the laser treatment, generally a pulsed dye laser is used.

Lichen Planus

One of the chronic inflammatory diseases that affect the mucus membrane is the Oral Lichen Planus(OLP). Approximately 1-2% of adult population is affected with OLP.

A diode laser in the wavelength range of 980 nm is focused on to the affected area of OLP in the defocused mode and is continued till that area is blanched. A major plus point with this treatment is that rate of recurrence is significantly low.

Flap surgery

This way of treatment is used when neither medications nor root planning/ scaling can find a satisfactory cure for a severe gum disease. A cleaning is performed which is followed by repairing of bones that have been damaged by gum disease. Local anesthesia may be sufficient for this process.

For the cleaning to be performed, a necessary section of the gums is pulled back. This section of the gum is referred to as the ‘flap’ and hence the process name. After the cleaning has been completed, the flap is sewn and covered with a biodegradable wire so as to stop bleeding.

Laser Assisted Root Canal Treatment

This modern method is named so because it uses a laser beam to vaporize the infected tissue. The living portion of the nerve is retained. Hence the pain suffered by the patient is sufficiently lesser compared to the traditional method.

In this method, a beam called Waterlase Dental Laser developed by Biolase technologies is used. The peculiarity of such a laser kind is that a high pressure water system is additionally used.

The laser system removes the remnants even in the dentinal tubules (small depressions in the dentin layer that surrounds the root).

Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure (LANAP)

It is a very popular surgical procedure that involves regeneration rather than resection. This method is preferably used for the treatment of gum disease.

Dr. Robert H Gregg II and Dr.Delvin McCarthy developed this method in 1991. A parallel beam of intense laser beam is used in this method so that the damaged or the infected tissue is removed due to its high energy. The advantage of LANAP is that it results in consistent reduction of mean pocket and bone density improvement.