Lasers Integral to DenMat’s Minimally Invasive Product Line
Since 1974, DenMat has taken pride in bringing innovation and technology to minimally invasive dentistry through such well-known products as LUMINEERS® porcelain veneers and Snap-On Smile® removable arches. Not surprisingly, the company’s Sapphire® laser products are at the forefront of laser dentistry.
“I use the laser every day I practice—it’s become a workhorse in my office,” says Cyrus Tahmasebi, DDS, Vice President, Clinical Education & Research Development, DenMat.
While there was a time, according to Tahmasebi, when lasers in dentistry were “a novelty,” today they represent a common tool in the armamentarium of most dental offices. “It’s one of those technologies that you may not have thought about because you’re used to practicing in a certain way, but once you start using it, you can’t imagine practicing without it,” he says.
DenMat’s participation in lasers is integral to the company’s success as laser usage becomes more popular in dentistry. This is, in part, because of the ample benefits lasers offer compared to traditional methods of soft-tissue surgery, Tahmasebi says. “There are many advantages: a dry operating field, better healing, less chance of infection, and much greater accuracy in surgical procedure. Also, as the laser cuts, it seals the lymphatic vessels, blood vessels, and nerve endings,” he explains. In addition, minimized sensitivity and bleeding helps increase patient satisfaction.
Tahmasebi is confident that lasers will become as commonplace in dentistry as the handpiece. “Lasers are so much less expensive than in the past and so much smaller in size that it is now possible for more dentists to use them.”
For example, the Sapphire® Portable Diode Laser from DenMat is a soft-tissue laser surgical/debridement device weighing just over 2 pounds for easy transportability between operatories. Designed for a variety of gingival modification and sulcular therapy procedures, the compact, user-friendly unit features disposable tips (thereby requiring no stripping or cleaving), finger-touch control, and an optional foot pedal. This powerful unit, which the company says is suitable for both a first-time user or a seasoned dental laser practitioner, provides 3 watts continuous-wave output, with 5 watts peak pulse power and 808-nm wavelength.
The company’s Sapphire® STM Diode Laser is a 3-watt dental soft-tissue laser surgical/debridement device that plugs into the Sapphire® Plus Light System. This “plug-and-play” unit offers clinicians the opportunity to add laser capability to the curing, whitening, and lesion-detection functions of their Sapphire® Plus platform.
For an introductory period, DenMat provides laser customers extensive training and includes the cost of the training in the purchase price. “We offer comprehensive laser courses for all levels of clinical experience, from the doctor who is new to laser techniques all the way to the advanced user. We see the educational component as fundamental to the Sapphire diode laser. It’s essential for our users to be totally confident in using lasers,” Tahmasebi says. “Based on my own experience, they’ll get used to it very quickly—so quickly, in fact, that it will be hard for them to remember how they practiced without it.”
In the context of minimally invasive procedures, Tahmasebi says the company has several significant projects in the works. “We have much more to come. Watch for our new crown technology later this year,” he advises. “As the innovators of LUMINEERS® thin veneer technology, we have something truly revolutionary on the immediate horizon—something that not only can change the way clinicians approach smile makeovers in their practices, but also increase the viability and appeal of makeovers for a dramatically higher percentage of the patient population.”
Based on the company’s history of success, the dental industry will be watching.
DenMat Holdings, LLC
2727 Skyway Drive, Santa Maria, CA 93455
800-445-0345
www.denmat.com
info@denmat.com
