Comparison of preparation speed of Er:YAG laser and conventional drilling machine

Helena Jelinkova; Tatjana Dostalova M.D.; Libuse Dolezalova; Otakar Krejsa M.D.; Karel Hamal; Jiri Kubelka; Stanislav Prochazka

doi:10.1117/12.273573

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15 May 1997 Comparison of preparation speed of Er:YAG laser and conventional drilling machine

Helena Jelinkova; Tatjana Dostalova M.D.; Libuse Dolezalova; Otakar Krejsa M.D.; Karel Hamal; Jiri Kubelka; Stanislav Prochazka

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Proceedings Volume 2973, Lasers in Dentistry III; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.273573
Event: BiOS '97, Part of Photonics West, 1997, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Clinical tests of the caries treatment with a Er:YAG laser system have been very promising. The problem of the Er:YAG laser drilling machine is the speed of preparation. It is not possible to increase the laser energy and repetition rate because this process is directly connected with temperature elevation. Therefore attention has been paid to define the differences between the classical and the laser drilling effect with a safe but effective laser energy and repetition rate. For the experiment, an Er:YAG laser drilling machine with an articulated arm was designed. Thirty samples of extracted human teeth were cut by both this system and classical drilling machine. The circumference, area and structure of surface sections were observed and analyzed. From the comparison of the measured time of preparation significant differences followed from the time of preparation. The time of preparation related to 1 mm² of the cut surface was 5.42 sec for the Er:YAG laser machine and 0.66 sec for the classical method. From this comparison it follows that the laser system is 8 times slower than the classical preparation technique. In both cases the roughness of the surface analyzed by SCAN was found similar. Also, there were no differences between the distribution of the elements, especially calcium and phosphorus.

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Helena Jelinkova, Tatjana Dostalova M.D., Libuse Dolezalova, Otakar Krejsa M.D., Karel Hamal, Jiri Kubelka, and Stanislav Prochazka "Comparison of preparation speed of Er:YAG laser and conventional drilling machine", Proc. SPIE 2973, Lasers in Dentistry III, (15 May 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.273573

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