Restorative Dentistry

Restorative dentistry focuses on repairing or replacing damaged or missing teeth. These procedures help improve oral health and function. Common dental restorations include crowns, bridges and implants.

Restorative dentistry has evolved from the need to treat dental disease and especially dental caries. This need is often accompanied by the conditional requirements of maintaining integral strength of the teeth during function and establishing a healthy interface between the restoration and the hard/supporting soft tissue, to prevent further breakdown and allow ongoing maintenance, all within a growing patient-driven demand for pain-free and cosmetic treatment. Also, professional dental care demands more accurate diagnosis of disease, earlier interceptive treatment, and therapeutic prevention of dental disease. These factors accommodate well the potential for laser photonic energy to interact with the various target chromophores, to effect ablation or to modify structure precisely and predictably.

For the clinician providing common restorative procedures, many situations arise in which the laser can replace conventional instrumentation and achieve comparable or better results. For the patient, laser use may represent opportunities to receive less stressful and painful restorative treatment with less disruptive postoperative effects.