Dental and Oral Health

Biography

Biography: Mallika Sethi

Abstract

Lasers is one of the most captivating technologies in dental practice since Theodore Maiman in 1960 invented the ruby laser.  While considerable progress has been made in the area of mechanical cutting, dental patients are still afraid of the noise and vibration produced by the mechanical action of the air turbine or ultrasonic scalers. From the end of the 20^th century until now, there has been a continuous upsurge in the development of laser-based dental devices based on photomechanical interactions. The pathogenesis of periodontal disease and the methods of treating it have undergone radical changes in the past 30 years. The current model for periodontal disease includes microbial components, host inflammatory responses, and host risk factors that contribute to the advancement of this disease. Soft tissue lasers are a good choice for bacterial reduction and coagulation in the treatment sequence and are an excellent choice to be used in a periodontally involved sulcus that has dark inflamed  tissue and pigmented bacteria. 

Evidence suggests its use in initial periodontal therapy, periodontal surgery, dentinal hypersensitivity, perio-esthetic surgeries and more recently its utility in salvaging implant which opens up a wide range of applications. Thus laser systems applying the ablation effect of light energy which is completely different from conventional mechanical debridement, may emerge as a new technical modality for periodontal therapy in the near future. This presentation aims at exploring the basics of laser physics and its wide applications in Dentistry and Periodontology.