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.
