Ron,
Just a personal thank you for this forum. As I travel throughout the world, lecturing and teaching what little I know, and believe me, I don’t know as much as I let on!….I advertise this forum in my lectures as the premiere place to study lasers in dentistry. I am proud to have such a forum to refer people to in my presentations, and I have you to thank for this. I also want to take the time to thank Bob, Glenn, Ron’s, Al, Pat, Del, and ALL who share here on a regular basis, to keep us on the forefront of laser dentistry on a daily basis. Thanks to all, from the bottom of my Montana Heart!

Sincerely,
Mark

Kelly,
Having been treated for an apthous ulcer with both a erbium and a nd:YAG. I preferred the erbium, myself. The ability to paint the surface with the erbium seemed to do more for immediate relief than the nd:YAG did. With the nd:YAG it was almost 5 days until it was really comfortable. Both lesions were 2-3 days old when treated.

Hi Guys,

I have to add my two cents here that over the years I have been both pleased and disappointed with the pulsed Nd:YAG for aphthous ulcers–NOT cold sores (HSV-I).

Sometimes it works very well for aphthous ulcers, but more often than not, it is a disappopintment–unless we numb the area up and can remove the yellow layer and create a coagulated laser layer at the basement membrane underneath. THEN, we tend to get complete relief in all aphthous ulcers–even the deep crater kind.

The ability to have an erbium that can create a surface effect/coagulation without the need to numb, is a distinct advantage of that wavelength for aphthous ulcers.

When it comes to treating HSV-I lesions, the advantage reverses, I think.  The ability for the Fr Nd:YAG to penetrate and effect the deeper tissues (viral proteins) may be why these lesions do so well in a defocused mode in that they do not return to the same site after being treated with an Fr Nd:YAG.

Just my recent thoughts after a recent observation…..

Bob

Dilbert,

We look forward to a great collection of information.

First of all thanks to “Dilbert” and Ron for the proposal. Don’t know who “Dilbert” is but have an idea.

The laser companies already have this information. Logs are kept when technicians go out for a service call, records are kept showing what part has been replaced when, how many have been sent multiple times to a particular doctor, etc. The companies know what is going on in the field.

So, how come they don’t fix ’em? Couple of ideas:

1) Possible that certain components of certain lasers have inherent engineering designs which simply preclude the engineers from fixing the problem. Perhaps the part or mechanism which would correct the situation is patented by another company. Unless the engineers can redesign the laser from the ground up, they may not be able to fix the problem…….which leads to…

2) Maybe its gonna cost the company too much to fix the problem. If the company is publicly traded and needs to keep shareholders happy….well, you get the picture and this certainly isn’t my idea. If you would like to read a simply fascinating exchange, go back to the OFF TOPIC section of this forum and read “Laser Suppliers”.

Anyway, great idea you guys came up with and I’m ready to contribute. I would not mind posting the information on a public forum as I believe it would be more beneficial to dentists using lasers or considering a laser purchase.

Suggest you add a category something like:

Has any particular failure mode occured more than once and if so how many times and what was the mode of failure?

I do not understand the category:

Has or will laser payout Yes/No

Thank you very much,

Al

Ron
I want to add my thanks for a great job at putting this site together. It really is one of the best organized and run sites I have encountered, in any area! As others have said, I learn something new and useful every time I visit. THANKS MUCH!