It's Painless Dentistry

The drill works with friction, which causes heat and triggers pain. This necessitates injection with anesthetic and numb lips, and opens the possibility for thermal damage. WaterLase uses a unique, powerful interaction of our patented YSGG laser wavelength and proprietary water/air spray that cuts, etches and shapes target tissues without contact, heat, vibration or pressure. So many procedures can be done painlessly with no anesthetic.

WaterLase is also highly effective for gums, skin, bone – more precisely and with less bleeding than a scalpel! Truly Painless Dentistry!

Discomfort is based on individual sensitivity to pain, and other factors, so not all patients can be treated without anesthetic. However, dentists using WaterLase to perform typical cavity preparations report not using anesthetic in the majority of cases.

It's Biological Dentistry

The Pain-free WaterLase Laser is from BIOLASE Technology, the world's leading maker of dental lasers. Tooth enamel naturally contains up to 5% water; dentin and bone up to 25%. Years of BIOLASE research led to discovery of a water-energizing 2,780 nm YSGG laser and a handpiece that delivers air and water in precise proportions – both BIOLASE patented – that combine to symbiotically excite water molecules from both the handpiece spray and inside the target tissue. The result is an effective pain-free biological micro-ablation of tooth structure. The atomized spray of water and air continually re-hydrates the tooth, preventing heat and pain.

It's More Convenient

Your WaterLase Dentist can often get you in and out of the dentist chair faster, since it's less likely that you'll need an injection to fill your cavity – research shows that the vast majority of patients don't. It's nice to avoid that shot, isn't it? Anesthetic-free dentistry can allow your dentist to perform several procedures in a single appointment that used to require more than one visit. Also, a no-pain WaterLase Dentist can perform procedures that once meant an additional trip to a periodontist, endodontist or other specialist, saving you even more time.

It's Completely Safe and More Precise

Lasers have long been the standard of care in medicine for many surgical and cosmetic procedures such as LASIK, wrinkle and hair removal and many other dermatology, surgery, ophthalmology uses. WaterLase® was cleared for hard tissue procedures by the FDA in 1998 and has been cleared for numerous additional dental procedures since then. Thousands of dentists around the world have performed thousands of pain-free procedures with no anesthesia, no drills and no numb lips.

The heat and vibration of the dental drill can cause tiny cracks in the surrounding healthy tooth that can lead to cavities underneath fillings, the need for a root canal and even the loss of a tooth. WaterLase precisely removes only the decay without damaging the surrounding tooth.

A cold cutting laser, WaterLase cannot harm adjacent teeth or gums. It’s even safe for babies, children, teens, and adults. It’s especially appropriate during pregnancy, when it is best to avoid introducing any unnecessary medications into the body; for the elderly, who need to be aware of potential drug interactions; and for the immune system compromised, who should be careful to avoid cross contamination. 

NO Cross Contamination

If you have ever had food poisoning, you know what cross contamination is. Encountering bacteria where you don’t expect it. The potential for cross-contamination between patients in the dental operatory is a real and widely documented risk.

15% of "sterilized" burs and up to 76% of "sterilized" endodontic files carry pathogenic micro-organisms.^1,2 Complex bur surfaces are difficult to clean. Autoclaving fails to completely decontaminate burs. ¹  

WaterLase has the potential to reduce this risk. WaterLase is a cleaner, safer dental instrument. Its flawless tip surface does not harbor debris or bacteria like abrasive surface of burs and files. WaterLase YSGG laser energy kills bacteria.² It works without contact to the tooth. WaterLase offers single-use, disposable tips. And WaterLase tips eliminate accidental "sticks" possible while dental staff handles contaminated burs.

NO Extra Charge

Most WaterLase dentists do not charge anything extra to use the laser for your procedure. They offer WaterLase because they feel it improves the quality of their dentistry. Often using WaterLase allows the dentist to be more productive – avoiding the delay of waiting for anesthetic to take effect, enabling the dentist to do more painless procedures during one appointment, and making it possible for the dentist to perform procedures that used to be referred out to specialists.

Imagine that – high-tech dentistry that costs the same as conventional dentistry. 

1. J Can Dent Assoc. 2009 Feb;75(1):39. Dental burs and endodontic files: are routine sterilization procedures effective? Morrison A, Conrod S. Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Republished in: Tex Dent J. 2010 Mar;127(3):295-300.

2. The antimicrobial efficacy of the erbium, chromium:yttrium-scandium-gallium-garnet laser with radial emitting tips on root canal dentin walls infected with Enterococcus faecalis: Wanda Gordon, DMD, Vahid A. Atabakhsh, DDS, Fernando Meza, DMD, Aaron Doms, DDS, Roni Nissan, DMD, Ioana Rizoiu, MS and Roy H. Stevens, DDS, MS JADA 2007; 138(7): 992-1002

3. A J Smith, Research Summary: Decontamination of dental burs, British Dental Journal 197, 623 (2004) Published online: 27 November 2004 doi:10.1038/sj.bdj.4811830