To a lot of people, “holistic” conjures ideas of crunchiness, being rustic, going off the grid. But while embracing the natural is certainly a part of it, the word itself is more about respecting connectedness, entirety – as in holistic dentistry, where we always treat the mouth in its relationship to the rest of the body.
And sometimes, we use some pretty high tech tools to do that.
Dental lasers are a great example of this, fusing cutting edge science and natural healing wisdom to give you shorter appointments, better results, and faster healing – all while working in harmony with your body’s natural healing abilities.
The Fotona LightWalker we use actually has two kinds of laser energy, each with its own unique properties. The Er:YAG (erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet – and try saying that five times fast!) works on hard tissues like teeth and bone, while the Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet) laser is optimized for soft tissue work. These complementary wavelengths mean we can use the unit in a wide variety of ways.
Consider gum disease treatment. Typically, this involves scaling and root planing, in which the hygienist manually cleans below the gums with a hand scaler or ultrasonic unit. It’s effective, but it often requires local anesthetic and can leave you feeling kind of sore.
The LightWalker can provide an easier yet more comprehensive cleaning. The Nd:YAG laser penetrates more deeply into periodontal pockets, selectively targeting and eliminating harmful bacteria while leaving healthy tissue alone. The Er:YAG laser, in contrast, removes calculus and infected tissue from the root surfaces. The procedure is so precise yet gentle, many patients find they don’t need anesthetic at all and report little to no discomfort afterwards.
And as the laser helps stimulate circulation in the gum tissue, the healing process tends to be faster, too. Laser therapy similarly promotes tissue regeneration and the reattachment of healthy gum tissue to the tooth roots – one of the goals of periodontal therapy.
Our laser is also hugely helpful in surgical procedures, such as the placement of ceramic implants. Along with ozone, it helps provide comprehensive disinfection, greatly lowering the risk of post-surgical complications and supporting the integration of the implants with the jawbone. We can also use the laser to contour the soft tissues for better aesthetics and stimulate bone healing. Above all, there tends to be less bleeding, faster healing, and, most importantly, better implant success.
Our laser is just as useful when we need to extract teeth, helping prevent a serious complication called jawbone osteonecrosis, which patients often refer to as “cavitations.” If an extraction site, including the supporting bone, isn’t properly cleaned, areas of dead or dying bone can develop, hidden below the gum tissue. Left untreated, these lesions can become silent infections, potentially triggering or aggravating chronic health conditions throughout the body.
The ability of dental lasers to both remove diseased tissue and disinfect the areas in which they’re used means that there’s less of a chance “cavitations” will form after decayed or damaged teeth have been removed.
And these are just a few examples of how our LightWalker helps us provide you with top notch biological dental care.
From a holistic perspective, laser therapy offers a perfect bridge between advanced technology and natural healing – the laser energy working with your body’s own healing mechanisms to provide excellent dental results.
