Sensitive Teeth and the Laser
Wrote this a year ago, but it's still very pertinent.
A patient of long-standing came in several weeks ago, complaining that her teeth were sensitive, generally, all over mouth. When I examined her clinically (visually looked in her mouth), there was no evidence of cracked teeth, or tired-old fillings, or bad crowns, or gum recession- all the usual suspects. There was nothing that I could see that might contribute to tooth sensitivity. There was nothing to restore or protect with a crown, and nothing to fill, but my Periolase that keep raving about has a setting for tooth sensitivity. So, at a very low power setting, I used the laser on four upper and four lower back teeth on the right side, without anesthetic, and told her to come back in two weeks. When she came back, and said that she couldn’t wait to have me do the left side, because all the sensitivity was gone on the right side. You may not want to hear that we don’t know how that works. Needless to say, it does. Posit