Laser Dentistry

Laser Dentist Latrobe - Minimally Invasive and Painless Dentistry

We are one of the only practices in Westmoreland County to provide laser dentistry treatments to our patients.  With extensive training and certifications, Dr. Mucci and Dr. Campfield are certified to use this virtually Painless, More Natural Dentistry .  

Laser dentistry incorporates state-of-the-art technology in various aspects of dental health practice and treatment. Although laser dentistry may improve the precision of your treatment while minimizing pain and recovery time, the technology has yet to break into the mainstream of dentistry. It is estimated that approximately 5 percent of all dentists have lasers available in their offices today.

The potential for laser dentistry to improve dental treatment comes from the precision with which lasers can treat an area of focus, the control that laser dentists have over power output, and the duration of exposure on the skin.

Here are some of the major benefits associated with laser dentistry:

• Procedures performed using dental lasers may not require sutures.
• Certain laser dentistry procedures do not require anesthesia.
• Laser dentistry minimizes bleeding because the high-energy light beam aids in the clotting (coagulation) of exposed blood vessels, thus inhibiting blood loss.
• Bacterial infections are minimized because the high-energy beam sterilizes the area being worked on.
• Damage to surrounding tissue is minimized.
• Wounds heal faster and tissues can be regenerated.

The application of lasers in dentistry opens the door for dentists to perform a wide variety of dental procedures they otherwise may not be capable of performing. Dentists using lasers in dentistry have become adept at incorporating the state-of-the-art precision technology into a number of common and not-so-common procedures

• Benign Tumors: Dental lasers may be used for the painless and suture-free removal of benign tumors from the gums, palate, sides of cheeks and lips.
• Cavity Detector: Low intensity soft tissue dental lasers may be used for the early detection of cavities by providing a reading of the by-products produced by tooth decay.
• Viewing Tooth and Gum Tissues: Optical Coherence Tomography is a safer way to see inside tooth and gums in real time.
• Cold Sores: Low intensity dental lasers reduce pain associated with cold sores and minimize healing time.
• Crown Lengthening: Dental lasers can reshape gum tissue and bone to expose healthier tooth structure. Called crown lengthening, such reshaping provides a stronger foundation for a restoration.
• Dental Fillings: Hard tissue dental lasers may eliminate the need for a local anesthetic injection and the traditional turbine drill. Lasers used in dental filling procedures are capable of killing bacteria located in a cavity and this may lead to better long term tooth restorations.
• Muscle Attachment (Frenula): A laser frenectomy is an ideal treatment option for children who are tongue tied (restricted or tight frenulum) and babies unable to breast feed adequately due to limited tongue movement. A laser frenectomy may also help to eliminate speech impediments.
• Nerve Regeneration: Photobiomodulation can be used to regenerate damaged nerves, blood vessels, and scars.
• Sleep Apnea: In cases where sleep apnea is a result of a tissue overgrowth in areas of the throat (which sometimes occurs with age), a laser assisted uvuloplasty or laser assisted uvula palatoplasty (LAUP) procedure can be performed to reshape the throat and relieve the correlating breathing problems associated with sleep apnea.
• Soft Tissue Folds (Epulis): Dental lasers may be used for the painless and suture-free removal of soft tissue folds often caused by ill-fitting dentures.
• Teeth Whitening: Low intensity soft tissue dental lasers may be used to speed up the bleaching process associated with teeth whitening.
• Temporomandibular Joint Treatment: Dental lasers may be used to quickly reduce pain and inflammation of the temporomandibular jaw joint.
• Gummy Smile: Dental lasers can reshape gum tissue to expose healthy tooth structure and improve the appearance of a gummy smile.
• Tooth Sensitivity: Dental lasers may be used to seal tubules (located on the root of the tooth) that are responsible for hot and cold tooth sensitivity. ₁