Pico- and microsecond laser ablation of dental restorative materials

Abstract

For biological hard tissues as well as for artificial restoration materials, ultra-short laser pulses (USLP) have proven their suitability for ablation with negligible collateral damage providing many advantages. For this paper, it was the aim to investigate the suitability of scanned USLP for the ablation of dental restorative materials compared to the microsecond pulses of conventional Erbium lasers. Scanning electron microscopy allowed analyzing the quality of the cavity surfaces with respect to structural properties as well as temperature exposition. Quantitative results about the ablation efficiency are given for different laser parameters on dental hard tissue and a broad variety of dental restoration materials, the latter being reported for the first time.