3 lasers in prosthodontics

Lasers have a wide spectrum of applications in the field of medicine and have replaced a scalpel to a reasonable extent all over the surgical field. It did not stop here but spread its wings to the oral cavity also and became a boon to dentists all around the globe. Lasers were introduced in dentistry by Miaman in 1960s. Otolaryngologists, oral surgeons, and periodontists were among the first professionals to use medical lasers in clinical application of various soft tissue surgeries. The first laser specifically designed for general dentistry was developed by Myers and Myers, introduced on 3rd May 1990 in the United States1.Since the time a rigorous research work was conducted for various applications of lasers in dentistry. The various advantages of lasers have proved to be beneficial and convenient for both dentists and patients, so have proved its worth in the field of medicine. 1 2 3 Dr. Manjula Das, Dr. Rajdeep Paul, Mohammad Ali Bhat Zabroo 4 5 Syeda Shamima Nastaran Quazi, Dr. Pramod Yadav INTRODUCTION: The first evidence of stimulated emission was observed by German Physicist Rudolf Ladenberg while studying the optical properties of neon gas in 1928 2, 3. The impediment towards the development of lasers was after the two world wars particularly after the Second World War. Charles H. Townes in 1951 proposed the concept of maser which was an acronym coined for “microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation” 4. The word LASER “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” was used for the first time by an American Physicist, Gordon Gould in 1957 while recording his ideas with a title “Some rough calculations on the feasibility of a LASER”. He got his notes notarized on 13 Nov 1957 and after 30 years of delay and various challenges his work got patented 2, 4, 5. After years of work on lasers Miaman foresaw the use of the device for bloodless surgical tool for treatment of cancers and as dental equipment 6. Currently all the dental surgical lasers are designed for procedures of soft tissues, only two erbium wavelengths are safe for teeth and bone. In the metropolitan cities of India lasers are becoming a must tool for dental establishments. LASER PHYSICS: All laser devices have the following components. 1) A laser medium that can be a solid, liquid or gas. This lasing medium is what determines the wave length of the light emitted from the laser and the laser is named after the medium. 2) Optical cavity or laser tube that consists of two mirrors, one fully reflective and the others partially transmissive, which are located at either end of the optical cavity and the space in between them and 3) Some source of an external power source. The external power source excites or 'pumps' the atoms in the laser medium to higher energy levels. A population inversion happens when there are more atoms in the excited state rather than a non excited state. Atoms in the exited state spontaneously emit photons of light which bounce back and forth between the two mirrors in the laser tube. As they bounce within the laser tube, they strike other atoms, stimulating more spontaneous emissions photon of energy of the same wave length and frequency escape through the transmissive mirror as the laser beam. LASERS IN PROSTHODONTICS