Ablative etch rates within human dentine using an Er:YAG laser have been measured with and without the application of additional water to the sample surface. Projection imaging techniques were found to be useful from both diagnostic and clinical aspects. Well-defined, spatially uniform laser pulses allow accurate determination of ablation threshold fluences as well as fluence-dependent effective absorption coefficients and material removal efficiencies. Etch rate dependency on sample water content is consistent with a thermal ablation mechanism. A model which accounts for this behavior, in view of the temporal pulse structure of the free-running Er:YAG laser, is put forward. The clinical implications of these results are also discussed.

Date Published: 3 December 1996
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 2922, Laser Applications in Medicine and Dentistry, (3 December 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.260672

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2922:
Laser Applications in Medicine and Dentistry
Gregory B. Altshuler; Fausto Chiesa; Herbert J. Geschwind M.D.; Raimund Hibst; Neville Krasner M.D.; Frederic Laffitte; Giulio Maira; Reinhard Neumann; Roberto Pini; Hans-Dieter Reidenbach; Andre Roggan; Montserrat Serra I Mila, Editor(s)