An insight into Lasers in Periodontics:A Review

NTRODUCTION In the past 100 years there has been extensive development of the mechanical cutting devices used in dentistry. However, while considerable progress has been made in this 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 20th century until now, there has been a continuous upsurge in the development of laser-based dental devices based on photo-mechanical interactions. It has been nearly 50 years since the first laser device was produced. Lasers have been successfully used since the mid1960s for precise photocoagulation of retina. Thus ophthalmologists were the pioneers of laser application. Since then, lasers have been used in many industrial and scientific applications. Based on Albert Einstein’s theory of spontaneous and stimulated emission of radiation. Maiman (1960) developed first laser prototype. Thus the ruby laser was created. Shortly after Snitzer (1961) published prototype for the Nd: YAG lasers. The first report of laser application for the treatment of dental caries was published in Nature in 1964 by Goldman et al. However, it was found that those lasers designed for soft tissue removal were not suitable for the treatment of dental hard tissues. The Nd: YAG laser was not appropriate for dental caries treatment because of its difficulty in cutting hard tissues as well as its deeply penetrating effects causing potential pulpal damage. Thus, the first dental lasers approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, namely the CO2, the Nd: YAG and the diode lasers, were accepted for use only for oral soft tissue procedures in periodontics. The lasers that show the most promise for hard tissue surgery are the erbium: YAG (Er: YAG) (2940 nm wavelength) and erbium, chromium: yttrium, scandium, gallium, garnet (Er, Cr: YSGG) (2790 nm) lasers. The absorbance of the Er: YAG laser in water is about 2.5-, 10and 15,000-times higher than that of Er, Cr: YSGG, CO2 and Nd: YAGlasers, respectively 5, . Because of I Review