By Glenn van As, DMD
Clinically, they allow you to replace your electrosurge for many procedures,
providing the opportunity to work on soft tissue with less need for anesthetic.
In addition, unlike with monopolar electrosurgical units, you can work around metals
(amalgam, braces, implants and crowns) without fear of creating iatrogenic damage
to the pulp, bone or soft tissue. Lasers disinfect so they can be used many times in
periodontal pockets and endodontic situations as an adjunct to traditional
methodologies. In addition, there is less lateral thermal damage with lasers allowing
the clinician the confidence to take impressions on the same day as crown
troughingor gingivectomies are completed. Lasers allow you to treat cases more
simply, with less stress while increasing the ROI by implementing new procedures
into your office.
The two main areas where lasers have changed the way I practice--They make
my life simpler, and they increase ROI. They make restorative dentistry easier by
removing tissue as a barrier to the restorations in regular restorative dentistry.
They also can be used to create symmetry and harmony in the soft tissues
so that cosmetic dentistry looks beautiful in not only the whites (teeth) but
the pinks as well (gingiva). After all the gingiva and the lips are the frames for
our pictures (teeth). Prior to having a laser, there were many procedures I referred
out or ignored. Two examples of this included fibroma removals, and frenectomies.
I found that with the laser, a lack of sutures and less bleeding made these two
simple but profitable procedures easy to implement into my practice. In addition,
using lasers in conjunction with veneers and anterior indirect restorations can really
help eliminate minor soft tissue asymmetries in the gingival heights. Of course one
must always consider biologic width and bone locations when using a soft tissue
laser, but in many instances minor alterations of soft tissue makes these cosmetic
cases go from good to great!