Another Study Confirms Er:YAG Laser’s Hard Tissue Ablation Superiority

19 February 2010

In a comparative study between Er:YAG and Er,Cr:YSGG lasers it was found that less total absorbed laser energy remained in the tooth in the form of heat in teeth treated with the AT Fidelis' Er:YAG laser. The authors conclude that this, at least partially, explains the observed higher ablation efficacy of Er:YAG lasers compared to Er,Cr:YSGG lasers.

This report follows previous studies, one which was also published in the Journal of Oral Laser Applications and another published by the Laser and Health Academy (http://www.laserandhealth.com/). Both investigated the use of laser profilometry for the characterization of craters produced in hard dental tissue by Er:YAG and Er,Cr:YSGG, which gave insights into accurately measuring laser drilling speeds. The latter study revealed that the AT Fidelis' Er:YAG laser's ablation rates, which determines drilling speed in volume per second, to be 3.7 times higher in dentine and and 5 times higher enamel compared to the Er,Cr:YSGG laser.