Lasers in dental implantology: A review

Dental implants have revolutionized the fi eld of dentistry over several decades and are proven to be a legitimate treatment option. As practice of dental implants became more common worldwide, the means of its improvement should be taken into consideration. Lasers can be particularly useful for delivering and supporting the dental implant treatment. Dental lasers have numerous applications in the fi eld of dentistry, and this parallel expansion of laser dentistry and implant dentistry is quite discernible. Advent of diff erent laser systems has a considerable spectrum of application in soft and hard tissues. Innumerable applications of dental lasers have been proposed for clinical use ranging from pre-surgical preparation, placement, second stage recovery, and gingival management, through the treatment of peri-implantitis. Along with these, there lie other benefi ts such as ablation of target tissues and ability to reduce bacterial contamination. Various wavelengths of dental lasers discovered so far, not all of them are of use in implantology. A laser works primarily through stimulated emission. The light reaches biological tissues and get refl ected, absorbed, or scattered in surrounding tissues. Lasers primarily used in the fi eld of implant dentistry are solid state lasers Nd:YAG, Nd:YAP, Er:YAG, Er,Cr:YSGG, semiconductor diode lasers, and gas lasers such as carbon dioxide lasers. Some of these are used for soft-tissue applications having excellent coagulative properties and some works for hard-tissue application described below in this review. When compared to traditional methods, lasers are gentle, less invasive, and less painful. Various studies have documented the capacity of laser wavelength and laser parameters used in implantology. In addition, laser characteristics are important because of the diff erent reactions, they can produce on implant surfaces. Therefore, proper knowledge of properties of lasers and its mode of action are also important for its advantageous use. The aim of this article is to debrief the application of lasers in implant dentistry in a comprehensive manner.