13th World Congress for Laser Dentistry

26-28, April 2012

Barcelona, Spain

Meeting Abstract

Sponsors: World Federation for Laser Dentistry

- Oral Presentation 5

TITLE: The influence of power and frequency settings during enamel preparation with Er,Cr:YSGG laser on the pain perception of patients.

AUTHORS: Borchers R.                          

SOURCE:  Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2012 May 1;17(Supplement1):S5.

* doi:10.4317/medoral.17643504

http://dx.doi.org/10.4317/medoral.17643504

Abstract

Introduction: Using Er,Cr:YSGG laser for cavity preparation can mostly be done without any anesthesia; but sometimes there are patients with a higher degree of pain sensitivity. For these patients the average parameter settings of the laser must be modified.

Aim of the study: is to show that there are different ways to reduce the feeling of pain during enamel treatment by laser without the need of anesthesia. 10 patients were treated by Er,Cr:YSGG laser (2780 nm ) with power settings 5,5 / 5 W (stand. 6,25 W) and frequencies of 40 / 50 Hz (stand. 30 Hz). Evaluation of pain during treatment with the different parameters was done.

Results: Decreasing the power results in a painfree treatment. Side effect: treatment time prolonges. Increasing the frequency also results in a painfree treatment without any effect on the treatment time.

Discussion: There are two effective methods to realize a painfree laser treatment on patients with a higher sensitivity level. Either the power setting has to be reduced or the frequency has to be increased. A decrease of the power lowers the amount of ablation at the same time- a prolonged treatment time is the result. If the frequency is increased there is no change in the total amount of power but the energy of the single pulse is more gentle because the energy per pulse has decreased. As result there is no change in treatment time. So the better option for painfree enamel treatment is increasing the frequency instead of lowering the power.