A Must-Have Technology for Practice

Throughout my years of clinical practice, we have incorporated numerous pieces of technology. One of the first advancements that we made was to acquire a dental diode laser. We introduced it into our practice in 2004 and haven't once regretted the decision. The rationale behind the purchase was to enable us to perform minor soft-tissue procedures so that we wouldn't have to refer them out. Ultimately, the ability to keep this within our clinical practice was beneficial to both the patients and the clinician.

Having previously used an electrosurgical system, I was already aware of a few of the benefits of diode laser technology. However, immediately after implementation, we took a certification course and realized that there were so many more capabilities. Unlike most dental lasers, the cutting capabilities of a diode laser require it to come into contact with the soft tissue. The diode laser beam operates through a fiberoptic glass tip that must be activated to heat up and cut the tissue. This creates a bloodless and clean surgical site, which rarely requires sutures and results in minimal postoperative pain. Although the majority of the procedures that can be accomplished with a diode laser involve cutting, it also has useful applications involving an unactivated tip that does not come into contact with the tissue. In addition, the power (or watts) used can change the intended effect of the laser. It is therefore imperative that the lasers that we use have adjustable parameters that will allow us to perform multiple different procedures. The capabilities of a diode laser are vast and include the excision of lesions for biopsy, pigmentation removal, frenectomy, vestibuloplasty, gingival recontouring, pontic site preparation, gingival troughing, apthous ulcer and herpetic lesion decontamination/desensitization, implant exposure, and periodontal therapies among others.