Cavity Preparation
peak absorption areas of dental hard tissues are in the UV and the IR (3 and 10 micons)
although Er-YAG has the best absorption of the YAG lasers, all YAG lasers damage tooth structure.
Long pulse TEA-CO2 lasers appear promising
- Transverse Atmospheric Excitation - gas excited at atmospheric pressure, transversely instead of longitudinally
ArF (193 nm) excimer cuts enamel cleanly with no thermal effects.
XeCl (308 nm) excimer not quite as good but can be delivered with a fiber.