Laser Therapy
Laser Therapy
Laser dental therapy is an innovative technique in dentistry that offers numerous benefits for patients. With the use of a low-power and high-precision laser, it is possible to treat a variety of dental problems, such as pain, inflammation, cavities and periodontal diseases.
In addition, among its benefits are greater accuracy compared to traditional methods, less pain and bleeding during and after the procedure, shorter recovery time, reduction of the use of anesthetics and greater efficacy in eliminating bacteria and promoting healing.
Laser therapy is one of the tools in medicine and dentistry that offers benefits for patients and health professionals.
Let’s see the categories in which the laser can be used:
Restorative Dentistry
This is the most performed today in our consultations. The removal of a cavity or a poorly adapted filling could be tortuous as it requires an injection of anesthesia and drilling the tooth with a bur, however, with the laser system you will not require either of the two.
It generates very little or no discomfort, to the point that some patients ask: “is that all?”, when a preparation with laser is finished. Additionally, with the laser we can condition the enamel for the adhesion of the resin (laser etching) replacing the acid etching.
Gum Design or Gingivoplasty
When it comes to smile design, gums should also be protagonists, so many times we have to trim them to make the teeth look bigger or to level the shape and sizes of the gum.
Conventionally, scalpel and injection of anesthesia are used; it presents high bleeding, and a healing time of between 7 to 14 days; sometimes the electroscalpel is used, also with injection of anesthesia, the bleeding is not profuse and requires less healing time, about 7 days, because the gums must heal from carbonization.
With laser we do not inject anesthesia, generally do not bleed gums and recovery time could be between 24 hours and 3 days.
Teeth Whitening (Dental brightening)
There are a variety of techniques that provide excellent results, improving the tone of the teeth; the diode laser has demonstrated effectiveness activating special chromophores included within a gel.
And best of all, it is able to reduce dental sensitivity by modulating nerve conduction responsible for pain reaction.
Removal of dental veneers
By means of the action of the energy produced by the high power ErCr:YSGG laser we can remove ceramic veneers. The procedure is very simple since we apply laser on the surface that causes ablation or disintegration of the cement (adhesive), it is also very fast (1 to 4 minutes) and does not cause pain. The laser is very selective for cement, so we can ensure that we will only remove the veneer without affecting or damaging the tooth underneath.
Oral Surgery
The advantages of laser in cutting soft tissues and hard tissues are increasingly evident, reducing discomfort during and after surgery and stimulating faster healing.
With the laser we can obtain samples for biopsies, perform lingual and labial frenectomies, remove fibromas among other oral cavity lesions.
Periodontics
Periodontal therapy aims to eliminate the infection by microorganisms in the area around the tooth: gums, tooth roots and bone. With conventional techniques we ensure the partial removal of contaminants, but if we add laser therapy we could eradicate the infection completely.
This therapy can be developed by opening a flap to clear the bone and roots of the gum for greater access, or also without lifting a flap, in situations of less disease progression.
Dental implants
We can perform the second surgical phase or uncovering of the implant in the mouth with laser, avoiding the injection of anesthesia and bleeding, additionally promoting rapid healing and shaping of the gum as we need it to give it a good emergence profile (the shape of the gum where the crown comes out), we could take an impression at the same time as the implant is uncovered, reducing the times noticeably.
Management of Peri-implantitis
One of the great risks of an implant is an infection by microorganisms around the screw attached to the bone, which, in a short time could loosen the implant, cause suppuration and loss of it.
The therapy to combat this disease is focused on eliminating the existing microorganisms around the threads and the surface of the implant. Conventional techniques indicate lifting gum (flap) and instrumenting for surface cleaning, involving scalpel, injection of anesthesia and suture points.
With laser we could do a single or combined therapy, which greatly improves the chances of eliminating microorganisms, but also promotes bone formation around the implant.
Endodontics
The ducts (sites where dental pulp is housed) when suffering from permanent inflammation or trauma end up in necrosis (death of tissues), generating a new colony of highly pathogenic microorganisms.
With some frequency symptoms are reported in teeth previously treated with ducts, months or years later, from microorganisms that remained latent and migrated to bone.
Given the great antimicrobial effect that laser has, we can complement our conventional duct therapy with laser’s antimicrobial effect.
Photobiomodulation
So far we have shown the benefits of laser therapy from clearly visible effects, but there is a large field imperceptible “initially”, it is the management of Low Level Laser Therapy LLLT.
Although we are not the only ones who handle this technology, we are still few and, thanks to research and investment, we have introduced laser therapy with success, knowledge and confidence.
Therapy is being done for the management of chronic pain or for neural regeneration, from the application of invisible and barely perceptible laser through nerve conduction to improve the metabolism of cells including neurons, resulting in improved nerve conduction.
We are also observing that the application of LLLT in orthodontic controls accelerates the movement of the teeth, as it is stimulating the acceleration of the metabolism of the cells responsible for the remodeling of the bone to allow the mobilization of the teeth.
We are increasingly finding more reports where the simple use of laser at the points mentioned above, leave a residual (collateral) effect of laser that ends up doing LLLT favoring better cell function. Thus, laser is being the tool with greater versatility in modern dentistry.
Management of Infections
With laser we can manage most infections that occur in the mouth:
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Removal of cavities.
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Disinfection of gums and periodontal pockets, in cases of gingivitis and periodontitis.
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Disinfection of contaminated implants.
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Management of herpes simplex - labial and facial, and canker sores.
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Better and faster healing.
Management of Pain
We have found favorable results in the management of chronic and acute pain, the annoying myofascial pain derived from bruxism, pain from a neuralgia, dental sensitivity or pain from bracket movement, all of them can be treated with laser.
Acceleration of Orthodontic Movements
Now we can stimulate the cells that intervene in the movement of teeth during orthodontics. Accelerating your treatment by about 30% is real with laser.