Lasers in paediatric dentistry

Abstract

Many clinicians will be faced with the un-cooperative paediatric patient presenting at their practices with a “fear of the unknown”. Establishing trust with these patients is essential in order to achieve a productive interaction with the child. The hard tissue lasers (Er:YAG and Er,Cr:YSGG) have the advantage of not producing the high pitched sound and vibrations associated with turbines. The ‘tellshow- do” method can be used to illustrate the water spray with the lowest possible energy setting of the laser in the paediatric patient’s mouth, which may assist in alleviating fear associated with the restorative procedures.