What is a Dental Laser?

A laser is a high-tech device that generates a beam of concentrated light.  This beam of light brings energy into your mouth to help your dentist remove areas of infection or tooth decay with great precision and accuracy.  The laser beam sterilizes the affect area and seals off blood vessels, which minimizes bleeding and reduces the risk of post-operative infection.  Laser dental patients are usually much more comfortable both during and after treatment.  That's because the need for local anesthetic injections is greatly reduced, and, in many cases, eliminated altogether!

Are Lasers new to Dentistry?

Lasers have been used experimentally in dental applications since the 1960's.   Recent technological advances have made it possible for lasers to be used effectively in the dental office on patients just like you!  In fact, lasers are widely used in dentistry in Europe.  In the United States, less than 15% of private dental offices utilize this technology.  In fact, Kirlough Family Dentistry is one of less than 500 offices in the entire country to use the Powerlase AT dental laser unit!  This laser is different from other dental lasers because it offers more power with more fine-tuned control of how that power is delivered.  In other words, it allows the operator to deliver the treatment more quickly, and is less invasive and less painful than ever before!

Exactly how does this laser reduce and eliminate pain?

Okay...dental care in a nutshell.  A cavity in a tooth needs to be removed.  We usually drill it out.  The spinning drill bit in contact with the tooth removes the tooth structure, but there is a lot of friction involved.  Friction equals heat...the nerve inside your tooth doesn't like heat!  That's why your tooth gets put to sleep first (the shot!)...so the friction from won't hurt your tooth!

The way the laser works is to use water in conjunction with the light energy to remove the targeted tooth structure.  The Powerlase AT can deliver so much power in such a short period of time (think microseconds here!) that the tooth literally doesn't have time to heat up!  No heat...NO PAIN!  And more importantly, if there is no heat created, then anesthesia is often unnecessary!

Is there any danger to the patient?

In the hands of a skilled laser dentist, lasers are quite safe.  In fact, the only safety precaution required during treatment is the use of specially filtered protective eye wear.  We should mention that Dr. Kirlough has been certified in the use of several different types of lasers by the Academy of Laser Dentistry, and also recently completed the Masters of Laser Dentistry training course in Hewlett, NY.

What types of procedures can the Laser do?

The better question would be: what can't the laser do?  About the only thing the laser can't do is remove metal fillings or crowns.  The most common uses of dental lasers include:

• removing tooth decay and old white fillings
• sterilizing infected root canals
• treating gum disease
• treating cold and canker sores
• soft tissue surgeries such as crown lengthening and frenectomy
• hard tissue surgeries such as tooth extraction and bone recontouring
• implant placement
• biostimulation

Wait a minute...what the heck is biostimulation?

Okay, the super smart  version goes like this...laser biostimulation is the use of laser energy at low power to non-thermally and non-destructively alter cellular function.  Got it?  In plain English, laser biostimulation is using lasers to stimulate and speed up healing.  We use low level laser energy to treat cold and canker sores, before and after root canals and tooth extractions, and to treat muscle and TMJ pain.  This type of treatment has also been used to treat (and cure!) things like Bell's palsy and partial nerve paralysis.  It's exciting stuff...and we do it routinely for our patients because it works!  It helps to decrease pain by improving healing...and that is always a good thing!

So...to review, what are the benefits Laser dentistry?

• Less need for anesthesia or injections
• Less post-operative pain
• Less bleeding
• Less risk of infection
• Reduced sensitivity
• Faster healing
• Ability to do more than 1 procedure in an appointment, saving time & money!
• Less time in dental chair
• Better results