For some people, just thinking about visiting the dentist makes their heart pound in fear. But even if you don’t have dental anxiety, chances are you’re not thrilled with those same issues that make some people nervous: the potential for pain and the sounds and sensations caused by dental tools like drills.
Laser dentistry eliminates those concerns. Lasers are fast, incredibly precise, and virtually pain-free. You read that right! Dental lasers cause little to no pain.
At Litchfield Dental Care in Litchfield Park, Arizona, our team specializes in laser dentistry because we’re dedicated to giving each patient exceptional dental care with as little stress and anxiety as possible.
If you keep putting off dental work due to anxiety, or you know you need to take care of a nagging dental problem, this is a great time to learn how lasers can transform your dental experience. It’s also a good time to use your insurance benefits before the end of the year.
Understanding how lasers work
The lights that surround you, whether from a light bulb or sunlight, send out different waves of light, each one with a varying length (wavelength). Lasers are different because they send out one wavelength at a time. The laser device amplifies the wave, creating a very narrow beam of intense light.
Dentists can focus that beam on the smallest area and treat dental problems with more precision than other dental instruments can achieve. The specific wavelength determines if the laser cuts soft or hard tissues. This versatility allows dentists to treat everything from hard enamel to delicate gums.
Today’s advanced lasers also give dentists the ability to adjust the wavelength and cutting speed on the fly, allowing them to seamlessly treat bone, enamel, soft tissues, and the dentin underneath your enamel.
Benefits of laser dentistry
Lasers are transforming dentistry many ways, but these are the four most important benefits:
Saying goodbye to pain and bleeding
Pain-free dentistry sounds like an impossible dream, but it’s a real benefit you gain with lasers. Any procedure performed by lasers is so comfortable that most patients don’t need anesthesia.
Dental experts have several explanations for why lasers don’t cause the pain. Laser energy stops pain by:
- Making incredibly precise incisions very quickly
- Vaporizing the tissues (causing much less tissue trauma compared to drills and scalpels)
- Sealing blood vessels (preventing bleeding)
- Sealing nerves (preventing them from sending pain messages)
The laser’s energy also desensitizes dentin, the tissue between your enamel and the tooth root.
Eliminating uncomfortable drilling sensations
Dental drills rotate at a high speed, causing the noise you hear just before you feel the vibrating sensation when it touches your tooth. Many people have dental anxiety because they can’t tolerate the sound of the drill or the sensation as it presses into their tooth to remove decay.
Lasers are quiet and you won’t feel or hear them, whether we’re treating abnormal gum tissue or another dental problem.
Healing faster
Lasers work well for treating gum disease, reshaping your gums, and gum surgery. Treating soft tissues with laser dentistry results in faster healing because the laser sterilizes the tissues, killing bacteria and minimizing your chance of developing an infection.
Lasers are also so precise that the cuts in your gums are clean, with little or no damage to healthy tissues surrounding the treated area. This accelerates healing and further reduces your pain.
Preventing future cavities
Using lasers to remove tooth decay (which they do faster than a drill) comes with another surprise benefit. It turns out that lasers can change tooth enamel, making it stronger and more resistant to the acids that cause tooth decay.
If you want to learn more about laser dentistry or it’s time for a check-up, call Litchfield Dental Care or connect online to schedule an appointment today and take full advantage of your dental insurance benefits this year.