What is a Laser

The word laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, although common usage today is to use the word as a noun -- laser -- rather than as an acronym -- LASER.

A laser is a device that creates and amplifies a narrow, intense beam of coherent light.

First built in 1960, lasers now range in size from semiconductor lasers as small as a grain of salt to solid-state and gas lasers as large as a storage building. The light beam produced by most lasers is pencil-thin and maintains its size and direction over very large distances.

Lasers are widely used in industry for cutting and boring metals and other materials, in medicine for surgery, and in communications, scientific research, and holography. They are an integral part of such familiar devices as bar-code scanners used in supermarkets, scanners, laser printers, and compact disk players.  

Laser dentistry

Laser dentistry can be a precise and effective way to perform many dental procedures.
It is estimated that 6 percent of general dentists own a laser for soft-tissue applications, with that number expected to increase over time.

Some of the major benefits associated with laser dentistry:

• Using soft tissue dental lasers may not require sutures (stitches).
• Some laser dentistry procedures do not require anesthesia.
• Laser dentistry minimizes bleeding.
• Bacterial infections are minimized because the laser sterilizes tissues.
• Damage to surrounding tissue is minimal.
• Laser wounds heal faster.

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.

Applications

• Dental lasers may be used to reduce tooth sensitivity.
• Dental lasers can reshape gum tissue and bone to expose healthier tooth structure. Referred to as crown lengthening.
• Dental lasers can reshape gum tissue to expose healthy tooth structure and improve the appearance of a gummy smile.
• A laser frenectomy is an ideal treatment option for children who are tongue tied.
• Dental lasers may be used for the removal of soft tissue folds often caused by ill-fitting dentures.
• Dental lasers may be used for the painless and suture-free removal of benign tumors.
• Low intensity dental lasers reduce pain associated with cold sores and reduce healing time.
• 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.

Our office has all of the latest laser devices and we are trained in all of the state of the art uses for lasers in dentistry.