BIOLASE Lasers Combine Excellent Clinical Results with Ease of Use
May 1, 2012
Volume 33, Issue 5, May 2012
Page(s): pp 372
According to Carl Ross, Director of Marketing at BIOLASE Technology, Inc., dental lasers are a much more attractive option for general practitioners today than they were just 10 years ago. “Laser technology has improved significantly over the past decade. Dental lasers are faster and more precise, and clinicians have grown to understand and appreciate how these instruments work,” he says. Ross believes clinicians are learning to incorporate lasers into their practices in a way that allows them to do more procedures in-house.
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“Today’s laser technology provides a number of advantages over traditional soft- and hard-tissue surgery done with scalpels and drills,” says Ross. Procedures done with lasers generally cause little to no bleeding, healing time is much faster and more comfortable than with procedures done with a scalpel, and there is no need for sutures after the surgery. Hard-tissue procedures, like cavity preparation, performed with today’s generation of lasers can be done at almost the same speed as with traditional drills. “At BIOLASE we recognize how the use of lasers has enhanced clinicians’ ability to perform soft- and hard-tissue procedures, and we are consistently looking for opportunities to make our lasers the best on the dental market,” says Ross.
BIOLASE has been creating and manufacturing dental and medical lasers for 25 years, and in that time the company has forged a unique path. BIOLASE’s WaterLase® family of all-tissue lasers, which includes the WaterLase iPlus™ and the WaterLase MDX™, operate at a wavelength of 2,780 nm (Er,Cr:YSGG), which is different from most other lasers on the market. “When BIOLASE started, we did not want to build upon laser technology that was originally developed for medical application. Instead, we conducted years of research to decide which wavelength would be most appropriate to deliver the best possible clinical results in dentistry,” says Ross.
BIOLASE took the same approach when designing its diode lasers. “Most of the diode lasers on the market utilize the commonly available and inexpensive 810-nm or 980-nm wavelengths,” Ross explains. “We wanted our diode lasers to have the wavelength that worked best clinically, which we discovered through research and confirmed with blind clinical testing was at 940 nm.”
Ross says that while BIOLASE is strongly focused on achieving the best clinical results, the company’s lasers are also very clinician-friendly. BIOLASE user interfaces are intuitive, easy-to-use, and easy-to-learn. “We rely on the feedback of clinicians who use BIOLASE lasers to make each generation of our products better,” he adds.
In addition to a user-friendly interface, BIOLASE laser handpieces are designed with ease of use in mind. The company designs its handpieces to be similar to instruments that clinicians are already using and accustomed to. “We even designed our WaterLase handpieces with a contra angle and illumination, because that is what clinicians are familiar with,” Ross notes. BIOLASE laser handpieces also give the user the option of a wide variety of laser tips, which ensures the clinician is using the best laser delivery system for the application.
BIOLASE offers many different instruction and education options for clinicians either looking to start using dental lasers or desiring to expand their laser skills. The company offers live, hands-on seminars, as well as online, self-paced training, and whenever BIOLASE installs a new laser in a dental office, the clinician receives initial training on using the device in the comfort of his or her own practice. Additionally, the company will have a comprehensive education offering at the annual World Clinical Laser Institute Super Symposium held in San Diego June 7-10, 2012.
In recent years, BIOLASE has expanded its product line beyond lasers and into other technology solutions as well, including cone-beam and digital x-ray. But, Ross insists, the company will continue to focus attention on being an innovator in dental lasers. “We’ve been doing that for 25 years now, and we’re going to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”
BIOLASE Technology, Inc.
4 Cromwell
Irvine, CA 92618
888-4-BIOLASE
dentalaegis.com/go/cced140
