Dental Er: YAG laser and its clinical application

An Er: YAG laser is a near infrared laser with a wavelength of 2.94m. This wavelength is identical to the peak wavelength of the light most readily absorbed by water. When used on living tissue with a sufficient water content, this laser causes a rapid evaporation of the water in just the most superficial layer of tissue, without greatly affecting the tissue in the neighboring area. The present study was undertaken to assess the clinical usefulness in soft tissue surgery and scaling of a recently developed Er: YAG laser device , designed for dental use, according to the Criterion of Good Clinical Practice for medical devices(GCP) of Japanese Ministry of Welfare. Thirty one patients with soft tissue lesions (13 males and 18 females from 24 to 71 years old), and sixty patients with calculus deposition ( 21 males and 39 females from 19 to 72 years old) were treated with the laser.The clinical parameters evaluated were : pain, redness, swelling of the gingiva and the unpleasant sound and vibration associated with the laser treatment. In addition, hemorrhage and wound healing during and after the surgery, and the roughness of the root surface after scaling and the effectiveness of scaling with laser were examined. Laser surgery caused less hemorrhage and induce better wound healing compared with conventional scalpel surgery. It was easy to remove calculi from the root surface with the laser in 95 % of the cases. Although the scaled site showed some irregularity, it was not clinical significant in 98 % of the cases. Only a few patients complained about unpleasant sound and vibration. There were no complications or side effects during this clinical trial. Thus, this study suggests that an Er: YAG laser is useful for soft tissue surgery and scaling.