Ryan Schettig

Er-YAG Laser and Dental Caries Treatment of Permanent teeth in childhood

Summary: The Er: YAG is one of the best lasers for treatment of dental caries in children.
Because lasers use a noncontact method children are more likely to cooperate due to there being
less pain and more comfortability during treatment. These are only a small part in the benefits the
Er: YAG provides. Other studies have shown the Er: YAG laser in a positive light however none
of the tests have been on children.
There are two tasks to this research and they are to propose a protocol for Er: YAG lasers
that recommends laser parameters for cavity removal in children and to assess the clinical
viability of Er: YAG laser. Fifty children were involved and a total of 116 cavitated teeth were
involved. Each child had to cavaties on two or more teeth and as a result a split mouth design
was used. This means one tooth was prepared conventionally and the other was prepared with the
laser. During the experiment a Er: YAG laser with a wavelength of 2940 nm was used and on the
other side both high speed and low speed hand pieces with burs were used. The teeth were
evaluated at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months.
The teeth were also evaluated with a twostep approach. The first step was to determine
the level of clinical accessibility in each tooth. The second step was to rate it even further and
make a distinction between excellent, good, and clinically acceptable. The result of the
experiment is that there was no statistical significance between the laser and the dental drill in
regards to the removal of caries.
This study showed very good results for the Er: YAG laser. The laser showed no postoperative or secondary caries in the period of two years after the operation. The post-operative

hypersensitivity can be attributed to the thermal pulp changes caused by the heat of the laser;
however, the rise in pulp temperatures for the laser are significantly lower than the rise of pulp
temperatures for conventional methods. The participants treated by lasers did not have one
restoration lost and not one of the cases needed retreatment. The laser had good results in this
study and this is likely due to the laser having the potential of increasing enamel and dentin acid
resistance. The Er: YAG laser when beveling the enamel edges provides good adhesion and an
interface that is free of micrleakage.
The Er: YAG laser is a new technology that has some promise. It can be successfully used
in dental caries treatment of permanent teeth and in the near future could replace the
conventional techniques. The results of the study were that Er: YAG lasers did not differ from the
conventional treatment.
Comparison: Do lasers improve over conventional dentistry methods in cavity removal?
This article answers on of my major questions in my research and that question is Do
lasers improve over conventional dentistry methods in regards to cavity removal? This article
covers this question perfectly and even gives a definite statement in saying that they do not
believe the laser improves of the conventional ways of treatment. This article is perfect for the
use of answering my question. I see my research heading to a comparison of all the articles I
analyzed to truly find out if the laser is the best device in dentistry.
Zhegova GG, Rashkova MR. Er-YAG laser and dental caries treatment of permanent
teeth in childhood. J of IMAB. 2015 Jan-Mar;21(1):699-704. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5272/jimab.2015211.699