In the 30 years of
laser history the oral cavity application has always played an important role. In the laboratory diagnostics the analysis of the saliva, tissues and hard dental tissues is performed by
laser. In the clinical diagnostics the
laser is used for examining the
caries, dental matter, in
orthodontics, in the surgical analysis of splanchnocranium and the teeth. The photodynamic treatment involves the diagnostic and
therapeutic use of the
lasers in the management of oral cavity
cancers. The soft
laser therapy is widely applied in diseases of the oral mucosa, parodontal and
pain syndromes, temporomandibular articular
diseases, dental inflammations, salivary gland diseases and in osseal healing processes. The surgical
lasers are applied in the treatment of teeth, in preprosthetic surgery,
salivary gland diseases,
precancerous conditions, tumour surgery and in the surgery of hemophilic patients, respectively. In the 90s one cannot speak about modern
oral surgery or dentistry without the application of
lasers. Though in various fields the research is merely in initial phase (holography, caries-treatment,
photodynamic therapy, etc.), the
lasers are becoming an indispensable (treatment of
precancerous conditions, hemophilic patients, diseases of the oral mucosa, etc.). The oral surgical use of
lasers might bring about fundamental changes in diagnosis and treatment, becoming a new professional branch, opening up new vistas, representing "future" today. The invention of
lasers in 1960 and their broad dissemination in
oral surgery and dentistry since 1980 have resulted in basic changes in numerous diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. The medical use of
lasers is of such an extent that it can well justifiably regarded as a new branch of science namely the
laser medicine. This considerably relates to
stomatology, too.