Laser-tissue interaction

There are two groups of lasers – 'hard', denoting surgical or cutting lasers and 'soft', denoting non-surgical, low-level devices.Laser light can be transmitted, reflected, scattered or absorbed by a target tissue, dependant on the absorption characteristics of the tissue.Laser-tissue interaction in dental surgery is primarily photothermal, in that incident energy is converted into heat. The level of heat (temperature) will define the target tissue change.The nature of the target tissue and a number of laser operating parameters will allow the clinician to provide precise, controlled and predictable laser-tissue interaction.