A device for the drying of tooth or bone surfaces includes a radiation source for irradiating the tooth or bone surface to be dried, a temperature sensor and/or a humidity sensor.

A diode laser system having high-power diode(s) said high-power diode(s) producing laser outputs in a range of 0.1 to 25 Watts of power using optimum wavelengths via a single optical delivery fiber.

An anti-contamination laser surgery device with a built-in optical element, including an inner cylinder, an outer cylinder, a first unit configured to enable the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder to be telescopic, a lens moving unit, a two-dimensional laser scanning unit, a real-time monitoring unit, and a second unit configured to perform unidirectional laminar flow ventilation. A head end of the inner cylinder and a tail end of the outer cylinder are matched and connected by the first unit. The two-dimensional laser scanning unit and the real-time monitoring unit are arranged at the head end of the outer cylinder, and the lens moving unit is arranged in the inner cylinder and close to the head end of the inner cylinder. The second unit is arranged close to a tail end of the inner cylinder.

A sensing system includes laser diodes with Bragg reflectors generating light having an initial light intensity and one or more near-infrared optical wavelengths. The laser diodes are modulated with a pulsed output with 0.5 to 2 nanosecond pulse duration. A beam splitter receives light from the laser diodes, splits the light into a received sample arm light directed to an object and a received reference arm light. A detection system includes a second lens and spectral filters in front of a photodiode array. The photodiode array is coupled to CMOS transistors and receives at least a portion of the received reference arm light and generates a reference detector signal. The detection system is synchronized with the laser diodes. A time-of-flight measurement is based on a comparison of the sample detector signal and the reference detector signal and measures a temporal distribution of photons in the received reflected sample arm light.

An apparatus for cooling tissues which are treated with an energy-based device, such as a laser, is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a spray nozzle which generates an atomized liquid spray for the treatment area, wherein the atomized liquid spray is based on a mixture of liquid and gas. Further, the spray nozzle comprises at least one liquid outlet which ejects a liquid, and at least one gas outlet which ejects a gas stream. Besides, the apparatus for cooling comprises at least one delivery means for delivering pressurized gas to the spray nozzle; and a pumping means for the liquid, wherein the pumping means is configured to operate in pulses.

Methods and systems for modifying tissue use a pressurized fluid stream carrying coherent light energy. The methods and systems may be used for resecting and debulking soft and hard biological tissues. The coherent light is focused within a stream of fluid to deliver energy to the tissue to be treated.

Systems, methods, and devices for improved orthodontic treatment of a patient's teeth are provided herein.

A system and method for mitigating pain associated with dentistry provides a removal apparatus for removing a portion of a tooth. A desiccation apparatus flows a desiccated gas to the portion of the tooth to desiccate dentinal tubules in a region surrounding the portion of the tooth, generally preventing nerve cells within the tooth from transmitting pain signals associated with the removal. The removal apparatus has a drill head with a body having an axial opening configured to accept a dental burr. An annular passage exists between the dental burr and the body within the axial opening. A chamber in the body is in fluid communication with the axial opening, where a channel is fluidly coupled to an external port and to a source of the desiccated gas to flow the desiccated gas therethrough and expose a drilling region of the dental burr to the desiccated gas to mitigate pain.

A system and method of automated formation of a preparation stub, based on an a priori created computational geometrical model, configured to conform to a prefabricated fixed dental prosthesis, is described. The system includes a digital imaging facility with an image acquiring device and a three-dimensional data digitizer, a modeling facility with an exterior surface design module and an interior surface design module, a fabrication facility operatively with a computer-aided manufacturing module, as well as an application facility including an ablation tool and in-situ preparation module; application facility preferably includes an intra-oral feedbacking appliance with a distance measurement probe for automated feedback-controlled formation of a preparation stub.

Methods and systems for modifying tissue use a pressurized fluid stream carrying coherent light energy. The methods and systems may be used for resecting and debulking soft and hard biological tissues. The coherent light is focused within a stream of fluid to deliver energy to the tissue to be treated.