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ePaper created 2016-01-08, 09:25:11 | version 1.38.0
I special The future today Ultrashort pulsed laser Author_Dr Anton Kasenbacher, Germany 40 I laser4_2015 _Until now, the gold standard in dentistry has beenthesubjectivemechanicalprobeandX-rayfordi- agnosis and the dental drill for therapy. In this vein, it was agreed that dental lasers could not achieve better resultsthanconventionalmethods.However,thisview haschangedwiththearrivalofultrashortpulsedlasers andthegrowingrealisationthattheyopenawholenew fieldofbothdiagnosisandtherapy. Thepatientandalldentaltissues,especiallytheden- talpulpstructures,needanobjectiveuniversalmethod, which guarantees stress, thermal and radiation con- finement.Inaddition,ithastobeultrafast,precise,hy- gienic and non-carcinogenic. Only if all these require- mentsarefulfilled,bothdiagnosisandtherapyarefree of side effects like heat-affected zones, micro cracks, (pre/post)painand/orinductionofcancerbyionisation ofwatermolecules. Todaydentallasers(e.g.Er:YAG,CO2),nottomention the dental drill, still have a long way to go before they can reach all these goals, as they have still too long pulsewidths.Thesecauseatoolonglaser-tissueinter- action time and the energy used is too high. These are the reasons why even long microsecond and short nanosecond pulsed lasers have failed to replace the dentaldrill,nottheprice. Ultrashortpulsedpicosecondlasersavoidthesese- vere disadvantages. Conversely, they generate a num- ber of benefits for the patient and the doctor. They al- low therapy and diagnosis (theragnostics) with a sin- gle system. The controlled biosafe, non-linear absorp- tionofphotonswillleadtoaparadigmshiftindentistry. This is also due to the fact that futuristic technologies like nano-dental medicine and advanced 3-D robotic procedureshavebecomereality. The minimally-invasive therapy with picosecond lasersachieveshighablationrateswithasuperbqual- ityusinghighscanspeedsandautofocusfeedbacksys- tems.Hence,possiblythisspeciallasertherapycansave costs by reducing the number of helpers, performing actually only the necessary protection and intraoral suction._ Asthisyear’sDGLAnnualCongresshasjustbeenconcludedandwiththeNewYearlying ahead of us,author DrAnton Kasenbacher gives another insight in future-oriented laser dentistry,focusing on the high versatility of ultrashort pulsed lasers. [PICTURE: ©SYDA PRODUCTIONS]