Abstract

Lasers as potentially practical dental drills still exhibit the problem of thermal side effects This is especially true for Ho:YAG, Er:YAG, and Nd:YLF lasers, both free running and Q-switched, which are very common in medical applications. They yield cratered and rough surfaces with deep cracks due to sudden humidity explosion and micro plasma absorption [1] because infrared radiation couples into the water content of enamel and dentine (4 and 10 %, respectively). Even picosecond-pulse Nd:YLF lasers still cause considerable thermal and mechanical destruction of enamel [2]. Excimer lasers exhibit much less thermal problems but involve the general risk of in-vivo UV radiation application [3,4].

© 1998 IEEE