Laser Dentistry
Laser dentistry is a relatively new form of dental care. Laser Dentistry uses lasers to perform surgery, prepare cavities, and harden dental resins. This use of lasers has allowed dentists to perform tasks with less pain and with improved results. There are many different types of lasers used in the dentistry field. Theses lasers included the argon laser, the diode laser, the neodymium: yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser, the holmium: yttrium aluminum garnet (Ho:YAG) laser, the erbium: yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) laser, and the carbon dioxide (CO2) laser. Each laser has different properties, such as wavelength, that allow the laser energy to be absorbed by different compounds. A laser that is well absorbed by water would be used on blanched tissue, and a laser that is well absorbed by skin pigments would be used on skin or gums. The argon laser is most commonly used on skin tissue because it well absorbed by melanin and hemoglobin. The argon laser operates at two wavelengths of 488nm and 514nm. The 488nm wavelength is used to catalyze dental resin polymerization. This use of the argon laser allows for faster curing of dental resins, and causes the dental resin to have a strong bond to the tooth. The argon laser is al
This makes the procedure much more comfortable for the patient. The Er:YAG laser can be sent through and optic fiber or a hollow waveguide. The third type of interaction is transmission. The CO2 laser is absorbed highly by water and moderately absorbed by bone, and tooth enamel. The CO2 laser is used for rapid surgical procedures, cavity preparation, and tooth surface hardening. One of the downsides of using the argon laser is that the laser requires a large amount of energy to create lasing, and to cool the laser cavity. The tissue that is being worked on absorbs the laser energy. When the laser reflects off of a surface stray laser light can cause eye damage. This laser operates at a wavelength of 2940nm. Lasers are a relatively new way of performing dental tasks. This laser can be run in free-running pulsed mode just like the Nd:YAG laser to be more comfortable to the patient. This effect is negligible because the energy is very minimal due to absorption. Cavity preparation is one of the Er:YAG laser most common tasks. The Er:YAG laser is used for a variety of different procedures. The first interaction is reflection.
Common topics in this essay:
Laser Dentistry,
,
laser operates,
argon laser,
laser dentistry,
laser energy,
laser absorbed,
eryag laser,
dental resins,
ndyag laser,
diode laser,
co2 laser,
laser absorbed water,
yttrium aluminum garnet,
argon laser laser,
procedures cavity preparation,
water blanched tissue,
|