Three Ways Laser Dentistry Can Save Your Smile

With the resurgence in science fiction in recent years, lasers have been all over our movie and televisions screens. But do you know where you can find lasers in real life?

Rock concerts with laser shows? Sure

Laser tag? That, too.

Laser dentistry? Of course!

So maybe the way we use lasers at our dentist office in Burke, VA, isn’t as exciting as the lasers in the space battles in the movies or as entertaining as a rock show or a game with your friends.

But at Fox Family Dentistry, we can do something that none of those other lasers can. Our laser dentistry can save your smile and keep your mouth healthy.

To experience this in person, call 703-978-5253 or contact us online to make an appointment soon!

How Laser Dentistry Can Help You

You’ve noticed how technology has changed your life. At work, computers are used in all kinds of ways. Some workplaces even have robots as a standard part of what they do now.

Technology has changed our personal lives as well. The internet and all the different devices we use to connect to it give us access to information on any subject in a matter of seconds. Our vehicles now have standard features that would have been considered luxuries not long ago (if they were even an option).

So, it only makes sense that you should benefit from the advances in dental technology as well. With that in mind, let’s discuss three ways we use lasers to improve the dental care we provide for our patients in and around Burke, VA.

The old way of looking for cavities including probing your teeth with a dental explorer or by looking for the tell-tale holes or dark spots.

We know that finding cavities as early as possible is in the best interest of our patients. That’s why we introduced the DIAGNOdent® cavity detection system into our practice.

This tool uses pulses of light to scan your teeth. Tooth decay reflects the light in a different way than healthy teeth. These differences may not be detectable by the human eye, but the DIAGNOdent is able to quantify those changes into numbers. This helps us know where you have a cavity forming earlier than ever before.

That also means we can begin treating your decay before it becomes a serious problem. And as with many health issues, early treatment is more effective and easier to handle.

If you have ever had a cavity (and more than 90 percent of adults will have at least one), then you may already have a filling.

To prepare your tooth for a filling, the first step is removing the decay from the tooth so it does not continue to spread. This also prepares the tooth for the filling material.

The old way of preparing teeth is one of the reasons many people have dental anxiety. The drill was loud. Its vibrations could be uncomfortable, and it could be painful on your teeth.

You will be happy to know that we have replaced the dreaded drill with a dental laser. Today, we can use the WaterLase® to remove decay instead.

The WaterLase is much quieter than the drill. It doesn’t cause vibrations, and it isn’t painful.

As you may have guessed from the name, this tool combines a laser with water. This allows the laser to remove the decay, while the water cools it down so you don’t feel any heat.

Once the decay is removed, we can restore your smile with one of our tooth-colored dental fillings.

Lasers aren’t just for hard tissues like your teeth. We also have the LaserSmile® diode laser to care for your gums.

Gum disease affects around 80 percent of the population, making it almost as common as tooth decay. Many times, treating gum disease requires a dentist to remove the infected tissue.

The old way to do this was to cut your gums with a scalpel. Using this method, dentists often removed some healthy tissue as well to make sure the infection was gone. This technique also required stitches or sutures to close your gums after your surgery.

With our laser, we have a more efficient way of removing the infection. The laser “zaps” the infected tissue, and the accuracy of this tool allows us to preserve more of you healthy tissue.

The laser also seals the healthy tissue as the infected tissue is removed. That means most patients don’t need stitches, which speeds up their recovery time.

See Laser Dentistry In Action!

Make an appointment at Fox Family Dentistry by calling 703-978-5253 or by filling out our online form.