Lasers in Dentistry: Minimally Invasive Instruments for the Modern Practice
Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the dental professional should be able to:

• Understand basic laser physics.

• Describe the concept of stimulated emission and what is an active medium.

• Differentiate between the concepts of energy versus power.

• Describe the difference between average power and peak power.

• Understand the three different laser emission modes and their role in peak power and thermal effects on target tissue.

• Understand the impact of pulse duration on peak power and thermal effects on target tissue.

• Define thermal relaxation.

• State the four types of tissue interaction.

• Define chromophore.

• Know the tissue temperatures that result in hyperthermia, coagulation, denaturation, vaporization, and carbonization.

• Describe the four major categories of dental lasers in use today.

• State the three safety practices required for all laser types.

• Understand the role of laser fluorescence in caries diagnosis and management.

• Know which types of lasers are able to be used on hard tissue.

• Understand the basic principles of hard tissue ablation and laser restorative techniques.

• Describe the various soft tissue surgical techniques.

• Define PIPS and its role in endodontics.

• State uses of low level laser therapy/biostimulation in dentistry.