Teledentistry is a type of telemedicine and telehealth that aims to make all major specialties of the discipline easier through a remote approach to prevention and treatment of oral and dental issues. This new method enables distant access to individuals instead of direct, face-to-face, doctor-patient contact and has been made possible thanks to developments in information technology. Teledentistry was described in 1997 as "… the practice of using video-conferencing technologies to diagnose and provide advice about treatment over a distance", and today it represents a modern way to practice dentistry by integrating digital imaging, electronics, health records, and telecommunications technology via an internet connection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlue and blue-violet diode lasers (450 and 405 nm) seem to represent an interesting approach for several clinical treatments today. The aim of this narrative review is to describe and comment on the literature regarding the utilization of blue and blue-violet lasers in dentistry. A search for "blue laser AND dentistry" was conducted using the PubMed database, and all the papers referring to this topic, ranging from 1990 to April 2020, were analyzed in the review.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCase Rep Neurol Med
September 2021
Objective: This report is the first one to describe the possibility to use "self-administered" photobiomodulation (PBM) for Bell's palsy (BP) treatment.
Background: BP is a peripheral disorder of the facial nerve causing sudden paralysis of unilateral facial muscles, and PBM has been successfully suggested for its treatment without any side effect. This is the first case report where a laser device was successfully used at home by the patient herself to treat BP opening new perspectives on the therapy of this disease.
The increasing demand for aesthetics, together with advancements in technology, have contributed to the rise in popularity of all-ceramic restorations. In the last two decades, the continuous progression in ceramic materials science for dental applications has permitted the fabrication of high-strength materials. Amongst these, zirconia-based ceramics have improved in terms of fracture resistance and long-term viability in comparison with other silica-based materials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: This ex vivo study aimed to evaluate the of Er,Cr:YSGG laser effectiveness in the decontamination of an endodontic biofilm.
Materials And Methods: Seventy-three single rooted human teeth, freshly were chosen. Each tooth was exposed to four associated species in an endodontic biofilm (Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus salivarius, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Prevotella intermedia) and randomly allocated to one of the seven experimental groups.
The "focal infection theory" is a historical concept based on the assumption that some infections may cause chronic and acute diseases in different districts of the body. Its great popularity spanned from 1930 to 1950 when, with the aim to remove all the foci of infection, drastic surgical interventions were performed. Periodontitis, a common oral pathology mainly of bacterial origin, is the most evident example of this phenomenon today: in fact, bacteria are able to migrate, develop and cause health problems such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Peripheral arterial disease is a dramatic consequence of an uncontrolled diabetic condition causing an increase of morbidity and mortality and its treatment is currently medical or surgical, finally requiring, in the 7-20% of cases, major or minor amputation. Photobiomodulation therapy (PBM) is a laser treatment used in medicine, thanks to its ability to stimulate the wound healing, the acceleration of inflammatory process, and the modulation of pain. Recently, the self-administration of the treatment has been suggested for different purposes in medicine and dentistry with a great number of advantages and no side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Several studies highlighted how the ameloblasts, secretory cells responsible of the tooth enamel formation, are highly sensitive to changes in their environment. Due to enamel maturation, their dysfunctions during a limited period of tooth development may lead to permanent morphological consequences, namely Developmental Enamel Defects (DED). The aim of this study was to show the advantages of Er:YAG laser for DED treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Photochem Photobiol B
January 2020
Purpose: The aims of this ex vivo study were to evaluate the effectiveness of the Nd:YAP laser in the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity, to compare the temperature rise during laser irradiation at three different dentine thicknesses, and to analyse the composition of the dentine-lased surface.
Methods: A total of 33 teeth were used in this study. For scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation, 24 teeth were transversely sectioned and divided into 4 groups: group A was irrigated with EDTA; group B was irradiated by Nd:YAP laser with 180 mJ energy/per pulse, 0.
Photobiomodul Photomed Laser Surg
December 2019
Given the tremendous progress in biophotonics applications in biology and engineering, we sought to examine the evidence for the use of low-dose biophotonics treatments, termed photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy, in pediatric dentistry. PBM therapy has been noted to alleviate pain and inflammation while promoting tissue healing and regeneration. These basic processes contribute to the fundamental etiopathogenesis of various oral diseases, and hence, there is now a growing list of potential clinical applications with PBM therapy in children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The use of ceramic laminate veneer has considerably and successfully grown to improve anterior tooth esthetics in recent years. The removal of ceramic laminate veneers with laser is reported only in a scanty number of publications and for this reason the importance and the aim of this study consist to verify the ability of Er: YAG laser for laminate veneers debonding with the preserving of the tooth structures (scanning electron microscopy [SEM] observations).
Aim: The purpose of this study consists to verify if erbium-doped, yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) laser, at low fluences, is able to debond porcelain veneers, successfully used to improve anterior tooth esthetics, without damaging the tooth structures.
Photobiomodul Photomed Laser Surg
November 2019
Photobiomodulation (PBM) is the term to define the wide range of laser applications using low-energy densities and based on photochemical mechanisms where the energy is transferred to the intracellular mitochondrial chromophores and respiratory chain components. In literature, a great number of works are reported showing the advantages of PBM use in many oral diseases such as recurrent aphthous stomatitis, herpes infections, mucositis, and burning mouth syndrome. Different factors may explain the increasing reported use of PBM in oral medicine: the absence of side effects, the possibility of safely treating compromised patients such as oncologic patients, the possibility of a noninvasive approach not associated with pain or discomfort, and the possibility of performing short sessions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Photochem Photobiol B
December 2018
Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is an oral condition characterized by painful ulcerations of the mucosa, healing spontaneously in 10-14 days but sometimes, due to their number, size and frequency of recurrence, lesions may be the cause of a severe disconfort with an impact on the quality of life of the patients due to the increased difficulty to eat, swallow and speak. For RAS, different protocols and treatments have been proposed as standard topical treatment to provide symptomatic relief, immunomodulating drugs as thalidomide, colchicine and steroids have been also proposed with the outcome to relief the pain, accelerating the healing process and increase the duration of ulcer-free period but without definitive results and without side effects. In this study we analysed the effect of laser treatment of aphthous lesions with four devices available on the market, two with wavelength in the infra-red region (2940 nm 808 nm) and two with a wavelength in the visible region (450 nm and 635 nm).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: An important surgical goal is to provide a first intention wound healing without trauma produced by sutures and for this aim in the past several methods have been tested. The aim of this preliminary study was to demonstrate the capacity of a 1070 nm pulsed fiber laser to treat the dental fractures by enamel and dentine melting with the apposition of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles as filler.
Methods: Out of thirty freshly-extracted human third molars, decay-free, twenty-four cylinders of 5 mm thickness were obtained to perform the test.
Background And Aims: The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of CO laser irradiation in comparison with sandblasting (Sb), hydrofluoric acid (Hf) and silane coupling agent (Si) on shear bond strength (SBS) of resin cement to CAD/CAM ceramics bonded to dentin.
Material And Methods: Forty-eight (CAD/CAM) ceramic discs were prepared and grouped by material, i.e.
Background And Aims: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the performances of 1070 nm fiber lasers for the ablation of oral tissues through the evaluation of the histological modifications made by a blind pathologist and the measurement of the thermal elevation during laser irradiation by a sensor based on a fiber Bragg grating.
Materials And Methods: The source used was a pulsed fiber laser emitting at 1070 nm, with 20 W maximum average output power and 100 ns fixed pulse duration. Different tests were performed by changing the laser parameters, particularly the peak power of the pulses and the repetition rate.
Lithium disilicate dental ceramic bonding, realized by using different resins, is strictly dependent on micro-mechanical retention and chemical adhesion. The aim of this in vitro study was to investigate the capability of a 1070 nm fiber laser for their surface treatment. Samples were irradiated by a pulsed fiber laser at 1070 nm with different parameters (peak power of 5, 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: The aim of this study was to measure the microhardness values of irradiated computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) ceramics surfaces before and after thermal treatment.
Materials And Methods: Sixty CAD/CAM ceramic discs were prepared and grouped by material, i.e.
One of the biggest challenges in endodontics is the complete disinfection of root canals. In addition to mechanical preparation, the technique traditionally also involves channel disinfection with other agents such as sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, chlorhexidine, or a combination of these. Some bacterial species are particularly resistant to eradication.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe neuronal disorders occurring in the oral district are mainly anaesthesia, paraesthesia, hypoesthesia and hyperaesthesia and they may occur frequently after surgical procedures. Medical treatment depends on degree of severity of the nerve injury but, in every case, it must be immediately carried out to reduce immune inflammatory reaction. The aim of this report is to investigate the effectiveness in the recovery of the peripheral nerve lesions of a new laser device recently proposed by the commerce that, due to its reduced size and to be a class I laser according the ANSI classification, may be used at home by the patient himself.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study is to determine the CO laser irradiation in comparison with sandblasting (Sb), hydrofluoric acid (Hf) and silane coupling agent (Si) on shear bond strength (SBS), roughness (Rg) and wettability (Wt) of resin cement to CAD/CAM ceramics. Sixty (CAD/CAM) ceramic discs were prepared and distributed into six different groups: group A, control lithium disilicate (Li); group B, control zirconia (Zr); group C, Li: CO/HF/Si; group D, Li: HF/Si; group E, Zr: CO/Sb/Si; group F, Zr: Sb/Si. Result showed significant difference between irradiated and non-irradiated in terms of shear bond strength for zirconia ceramics (p value = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA number of concepts and devices have been proposed for caries removal. Among these, the Er:YAG laser is a potential alternative to conventional mechanical treatment. This study compared the effectiveness of the Er:YAG laser with that of low-speed rotary instruments for removal of carious tissue in 26 extracted human molars and premolars with severe decay (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Dental diode lasers were started to be used at the end of the 1990s and were shown to possess several important characteristics, such as small size and low cost, as well as the advantage of optic fibers delivering system. Although only two wavelengths (810 and 980 nm) had been the most used dental diode lasers, a wavelength emitting in the blue portion of the spectrum has recently been proposed.
Aim: The aim of this ex vivo study was to compare the effectiveness of five different fiber-delivered laser wavelengths (450, 532, 808, 1064, and 1340 nm) in the oral soft tissue ablation.
The introduction of diode lasers in dentistry had several advantages, principally consisting on the reduced size, reduced cost and possibility to beam delivering by optical fibbers. Up today only the wavelengths around 810 and 980 nm were the most utilized in oral surgery but recently more different lasers had been proposed. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of four diode laser wavelengths (810, 980, 1470 and 1950 nm) for the ablation of soft tissues.
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