What is Laser Dentistry?
Laser dentistry can have several different meanings that describe both the type of laser we use and the procedure we use the laser for. Traditionally lasers have been confined to mostly soft tissue use and very limited ability to cut hard tissue like tooth and bone. This has changed to some degree with a newer CO2 laser, but it is still slower and few dentists will be offering due to high cost. We have purchased the Solea hard CO2 laser and are using it for a variety of functions.
In our office laser dentistry has many applications.
- Venous lake removal
- Frenectomy
- Tooth exposure for orthodontics
- Lesion removal
- Gingivectomy both cosmetic and for restorative reasons
- Cold sore treatments and apthous ulcers treatments
- Dental fillings without getting an injection or using the dental drill
- Closed flap bone removal
- Crown lengthening
Venous lake removal with laser
Venous lake removal is one of our more popular uses for our dental laser. Venous lake laser treatment is covered in much more detail in the link.
Laser frenectomy
A dental laser is a great tool to use for the removal of frenums when needed. The removal of tissue with minimal bleeding and with less pain after are the primary benefits of using a laser over a scalpel.
Tooth laser exposure for orthodontics
It is fairly common for a tooth to be behind other teeth or have too much bone and tissue around it to be able to erupt properly. In these cases we must surgically intervene. We usually will use a dental laser to access such teeth as it cauterizes while working and makes a cleaner field.
Many cases are a little too graphic too show and require more than just the laser but this case was minor and only a laser was used.
Lesion removal with dental laser
Rather than using a scalpel to remove a lesion a laser has several added benefits. It cauterizes as it cuts resulting in less bleeding for during the surgery and after. It also is less painful afterwords as it stimulates the nerve endings. Removal of viral lesions, not so much with an initiated diode, require the use of a high speed evacuation to reduce any potential viral load in the plume Fox-Lewis OEM 2020.
What a lesion looks like immediately after we finish. Notice no bleeding.
Laser crown lengthening
If we need to remove some tissue and bone to make a tooth more restorable or more esthetic our hard tissue Solea laser is a great asset.
Laser gingivectomy
Tissue may need removal for cosmetic reasons like when placing dental veneers. Another common reason for needing to remove tissue is for restorative reasons, like when decay is under the gumline. We can accomplish both with our our Solea dental laser. You can check out much more about laser gingivectomy on our page specifically about the laser gingivectomy procedure.
In the middle photo at 5 days healing you can still see the redness where the laser gingivectomy was done to improve the extra gum tissue on that side
Laser treatment of cold sore and apthous ulcer
Many people still do not realize that you do not have to suffer from cold sores any more. We treat all cold sores complimentary for our patients. All one has to do is call and in about 1 minute of laser treatment we can stop it at whatever stage it is at and allow it to start to heal. This also works for aphtous ulcers but since they do not hurt nearly as much and aren’t embarrassing like cold sores, we don’t treat them as often.
This is the healing just a few days later. The vesicle never ruptured and immediately started to heal instead of spreading and rupturing into an open wound. This laser treatment completely eliminates pain immediately. If caught even earlier (at the first sign of a tingle) literally nothing will happen. No sore will even start. The laser stops cold sores dead in their tracks!