Ditch the Dental Drill
A new laser that treats tooth decay using a painless beam of light is set to revolutionise trips to the dentist.
The Waterlase MD Turbo will speed up many dental procedures, and it can also be used to sterilise infection, trim gums and cure tooth sensitivity for good. As the laser is a pain-free procedure, it looks likely that it could do away with the dreaded dental drill – as well as the anaesthetic injections needed to numb pain.
Tariq Idris, Harley Street dental surgeon and one of the first dentists in the UK to use the laser, is impressed. ‘Lasers have been used in some areas of dentistry for a few years but they haven’t been fast enough to replace the drill,’ he says. ‘This has changed all that. Now a laser can be used to remove tooth decay and prepare cavities and crowns.’
The laser works by emitting high-speed pulsed light. The procedure is gentle and precise, so no anaesthetic is needed. ‘The laser is shone on to the tooth and there is a spray of water but no grinding,’ says Idris.
The laser can also be used to disinfect teeth. In research published by the Journal of the American Dental Association, Waterlase MD Turbo killed 99.7 per cent of bacteria in infected tooth cavities in under three minutes. It also offers the first permanent cure for sensitive teeth, by ‘sealing’ the layer of exposed dentine that is the cause of tooth sensitivity.
While a laser treatment should only cost you around 15 per cent more than conventional dental work, the laser itself comes at a cost of more than £50,000, so don’t expect to see one in every dental practice just yet.
Contact: www.harleydentalsuite.co.uk
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