Dental Lasers in the 21st Century

Here at 21st Century Dental in Irving Las Colinas, we have always embraced microdentistry, a conservative approach to the surgical and non-surgical treatments for oral maladies and diseases.  We still utilize air abrasion dentistry, a unique non-drill way to remove decay from teeth without pain or anesthesia when the cavity has not advanced too far.  If you were a candidate, many of you have already benefited from that technology and conservative philosophy.

Our dental perio laser is another cutting edge, hi-tech advancement in the world of general and cosmetic dentistry that now allows us to treat soft tissue disease or provide cosmetic or functional surgical intervention with greatly reduced and often almost non-existent post-operative pain or sensitivity (just ask my wife!).  Our goal when we first purchased the Lares Nd:YAG laser was to be a hero in our community and 21st Century Dental practice by treating old problems in new ways!  Could we get better results with less discomfort?  We can!

Why did we first decide to add this technology to our Irving, Las Colinas practice?  After years of research and watching the laser technology evolve and improve, we learned that we could provide many of the services we currently deliver in a better, faster, and more comfortable fashion.  Where indicated, the Lares Nd:YAG laser allows us to deliver patient care in a way that few modalities can, and in a way we couldn’t before.

Areas of Use

• Aesthetics (cosmetic gum recontouring where applicable)
• Restorative (to help us gain access and maintain a dry field when bacterial lesions dive below the gums)
• Crown Lengthening and Impressions  (when the tooth is too short and/or to keep things dry while capturing an impression of a crown preparation)
• Periodontal Disease Therapy
• Palliative Treatment  of Lesions
• And More: mouth ulcers, benign oral pathology or fibroma removal, viral lip lesions (come running to us at first sensation or tingle!), uncovering implants, removing oral warts or papillomas, treating denture sores, venus varix (blue things), frenectomies (to remove tissue that sometimes causes a space between front teeth), gingivectomy (gum improvements), gingivoplasty, pulpotomies (removing sick, painful nerve tissue), direct and indirect nerve capping (eradicating bacteria touching or almost touching the nerve, tooth exposure to aid painful eruption, and more…)
• Cutting edge procedures being looked at and evaluated:  Biostimulation for the TMJ, parasthesia, sinus infection, desensitization of teeth.
• Treating Heart Disease and Stroke patients who were historically bleeding risks due to taking blood thinners such as:  Aspirin, Heparin, Coumadin.  The laser carefully removes tissues and coagulates!

We would like to thank Doctor Todd McCracken, DDS, MALD, for educational information and input used to compose this article derived from his lecture delivered at the AGD Annual Convention 2005.  We would also like to thank Dr. John Flucke, technology editor and consultant for Dental Practice and Products for his mentorship in perio laser integration as well.