MY JOURNEY TO LASERS - Teeth Laser Whitening

MY JOURNEY TO LASERS
Publication Date: 01-MAR-07
Author: Bregman, Jonathan A.
Publication: Dental Practice Report
Delivery: Immediate Online Access

Article Excerpt
MY JOURNEY TO LASERS

A Dental Practice Report series

This four-part series chronicles one doctor's efforts to integrate laser technology into his dental practice. This month, he discusses how laser-assisted techniques improved many of his hard- and soft-tissue cases. Here is a preview of the rest of the series:

Last month: Overcoming skepticism about lasers.

In April: How lasers allow you to perform new procedures.

In May: What lasers can do for your bottom line.

When I purchased nay Er, Cr:YSGG laser, I had been in practice for 29 years. As much as I love clinical work, it's easy to become bored performing the same procedures time and again. Laser technology made me excited about dentistry in ways I hadn't felt in years. It was a new challenge. It was a different, more predictable and more efficient approach to procedures I had performed for years. As I learned more, I could do more. Though I use my laser with almost every patient all day long, dentistry no longer feels routine.

One of the myths of laser-assisted dentistry is that the technology is only good for those rare, exceedingly complex cases. I've discovered the exact opposite. I use my laser to accomplish everyday hard- and soft-tissue procedures all day, every day.

Needle-free dentistry

One of the primary reasons I purchased my laser was to do needle-free and needle-less dentistry. This is an important distinction, especially as you shop for the laser that best suits your practice. Many dental lasers on the market can perform the same hard- and/or soft-tissue procedures, but not all of them can perform them needle-free or needle-less. I define needle-free as not ever needing to use a regular local anesthetic injection for a procedure. I define needle-less as needing to use a regular local anesthetic significantly less because the laser technology is at my disposal. This distinction is very important. No laser on the market totally eliminates the need for a local anesthetic injection for all dental procedures.

For example, since learning laser-assisted techniques, I have not used a local anesthetic injection in any of my soft-tissue procedures; they are all accomplished needle-free. Instead, I use TAC GEL (Lidocaine 20%, Tetracaine 4%; Phenyephrine 2% in solution)applied for one minute in conjunction with using my laser. That's...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.