One common source of anxiety for dental patients is the incessant whine of the dental drill. This distinctive, high-pitched sound penetrates through even noise-canceling headphones and can feel relentless. Thankfully, recent innovations in dental science may have finally relegated the traditional dental drill to the annals of the past. Modern dental offices are making the switch to laser dentistry, bringing a new era of peaceful quiet to their practice. This step has alone gone a long way to making dental offices more comfortable for thousands of patients.
How Dentistry Is Being Changed By The Laser Drill
While everyone can get a little nervous about going to the dentist or a pending procedure, there are those who are positively paralyzed by it. These individuals suffer from a condition known as dental anxiety. This condition manifests as an overwhelming sense of fear and anxiousness when discussing dental care. This experience can lead these individuals to ardently avoid necessary dental care. Many will report that the shrill whine of the dental drill is one contributing factor.
Laser dentistry has made receiving dental care more approachable for patients like these. Using a beam of coherent light, the laser; dentists have been able to utterly change the patient experience. Some of the primary benefits that this new tool has over traditional drills include the following:
- Elimination of high-pitched sounds during dental work
- Incredible precision reduces unnecessary healthy tissue removal
- Laser dentistry vaporizes unhealthy tissue and sealed the treatment site instantly
- The laser is nearly painless and sharply reduces the need for anesthetic
Laser dentistry is nearly silent, the sharp whine being replaced by a quiet pulsing sound while it works. Rather than making patients nervous, this pulsing sound has been reported as being soothing. The dental industry has been using laser dentistry for a wide range of purposes. They can address tooth decay, gum disease, and discolored teeth equally well.
A great aspect of laser dentistry is the ability of the drill to precisely eliminate areas of decay without harming the healthy tissue nearby. Once the decay is removed, the drill then prepares the site to receive restorative dentistry such as fillings. It’s also highly effective at targeting and removing periodontitis from infected patients.
They’re particularly effective at eliminating dental stains. While bleach and abrasives can help remove the discoloration from the enamel, laser dentistry can precisely eliminate stained tissue. It’s capable of removing significantly smaller layers more precisely. Laser drills have also been used to complement the efforts of whitening solutions.
Learn More By Speaking To Your Dentist Today
If you want to be told more about laser dentistry, reach out to your dental care provider. They’ll let you know if laser dentistry is part of their practice and what procedures take advantage of it. If they haven’t added laser drills to their clinic yet, now’s the time to ask them to consider upgrading! Everyone benefits when laser dentistry is added to the tools your dentist uses to provide care.