How Laser Dentistry Can Improve Your Oral Health

The field of dentistry has changed a lot in the past few decades, and one change that’s made a big difference to both dentists and patients is the use of lasers. Laser dentistry harnesses the precision of laser energy to treat an array of problems without drills or other invasive tools.

You may already know that lasers can help people whiten their teeth. But laser technology is used in many other ways too.

At Greenwich Dentistry in Cos Cob, Connecticut, Sean Sutton, DDS, and Mark Sutton, DDS, are skilled in state-of-the-art laser dentistry treatments aimed at helping patients enjoy optimal oral health while alleviating the anxiety that often goes hand-in-hand with dental visits. 

In this post, our team reviews five ways laser dentistry can help you maintain your healthy smile.

1. Reduces sensitivity

Tooth sensitivity happens when sugars or sensations like cold or heat travel through tiny tubules in your tooth’s dentin — the layer just below the enamel. The tubules deliver those sensations to nerves in the central pulp part of your tooth.

Tooth sensitivity can happen to anyone but is more common among people with receding gums and those with thin or worn enamel. Lasers help reduce sensitivity by desensitizing nerve responses, helping you enjoy the foods you love without worrying about tooth pain. 

2. Treats tooth decay

Traditionally, “drilling and filling” has been the first-line treatment for cavities. While effective, drilling can cause additional tooth trauma by damaging healthy tooth material surrounding the decayed area. 

Because lasers are precise, they can eliminate the decayed portion of the tooth without harming healthy tooth material. That precision also means less discomfort as your tooth heals.

3. Treats gum disease

Nearly half of Americans have gum disease, a leading cause of adult tooth loss. Triggered by bacterial infection, gum disease causes your gums to recede, allowing bacteria to move down the tooth surface to the root. 

Deep-cleaning techniques can sometimes treat gum disease in its early and middle stages. Advanced disease may require oral surgery to peel back the gum tissue and access the root.

At our practice, we use lasers to access infected tissue below the gum line, carefully and precisely removing it using laser energy. This approach involves far less tissue trauma and less bleeding, risk of infection, and discomfort afterward.

4. Makes treatment more comfortable

Lasers rely on highly focused beams of energy to remove infected soft tissue and eliminate decayed tooth material, resulting in far less trauma, bleeding, and swelling. As a result, treatment is much more comfortable, and recovery is more comfortable too. 

That’s especially important for the roughly 20% of adults who suffer from dental anxiety, avoiding appointments often because they worry about pain. Lasers also eliminate another common cause of anxiety: the noise of a dental drill.

5. Speeds up recovery

Finally, laser dentistry can speed up your healing time after treatment. As noted, because laser procedures are less invasive than traditional dental treatments, they cause less tissue damage, bleeding, and swelling. 

These factors combine to support a faster recovery. Plus, lasers help promote the development of collagen, a protein that plays a key role in tissue healing.

The versatility of laser treatment means they’re used in lots of treatments that support optimal oral health at every age. To learn how lasers can help you maintain your beautiful, healthy smile, call 203-869-2066 to book an appointment with the team at Greenwich Dentistry today.