Introduction: In oral surgery, lasers have been extensively used in soft-tissue manipulations, yet their application to bone tissue remains limited.
Aim: The literature review in the present paper aims to discuss and summarize current applications of dental lasers on bone tissue, specifying the advantages and drawbacks related to their usage, and also indicate the types of lasers appropriate for bone cutting.
Materials and Methods: The academic databases used as sources are: Pub Med, Google Scholar, and Medline, from 2005 to December 2020. The academic search returned a total of 321 publications relevant to the topic concerned. Twenty-nine articles were then shortlisted as containing specific information on the practical application of lasers in bone surgery. The following keywords or combinations of them were used: “bone cutting”; “oral surgery”; “laser”.
Results: Dental lasers have found many applications in bone surgeries such as crown lengthening, extraction of impacted wisdom teeth, apical osteotomy, cystectomy, autogenous bone grafting procedures, implant surgery, etc. Laser bone removal provides some indisputable advantages over the conventional methods with mechanical drills: operative comfort for the patient, absence of the unpleasant sensations of vibration, pressure and noise, a decontaminating, bactericidal and sterilizing effect on the irradiated bone tissues, cleaner ablated surfaces without debris, microcracks and smear layer, lack of thermal damage to the bone, and minimal bone loss. The main downside of laser use is associated with the extended surgical time and the lack of tactile sensation due to their non-contact mode of operation. Er:YAG and Er,Cr:YSGG lasers remain the most widely used ones for bone removal due to their minimal thermal effects and negative impact on adjacent tissues.
Conclusion: Lasers have the potential to become a more efficient alternative to conventional mechanical instruments for osteotomy. However, due to the current limited application of dental lasers in bone surgery, they need to be further explored for use in this field and certain issues remain yet to be resolved. Therefore, further studies must be carried out to obtain sufficient evidence that lasers are superior to conventional techniques for bone removal.
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