Lumenis / OpusDent gets FDA clearance for laser bone removal BIOLASE gets continuation patent
OmniGuide reports clinical results with hollow photonic-crystal fiber for CO2 laser delivery
Millennium Dental gets FDA clearance for Laser ANAP
BIOLASE launches new Waterlase MD product at ADA Annual Meeting
Notes and Articles
Millennium Dental Technologies breaks new ground in the dental laser world
Diode laser prices continue to drop
Ivoclar Vivadent enters the dental laser market
Erbium lasers in dentistry
Non-Profit, Retail, Travel and Lodging
Many of the online directories focus towards one market segment or audience profile. Here, we target the "best in class" for each of the served markets by industry leaders in their respective fields. Find a category that you feel is most relevant to the content of your site, or that attracts a customer demographic you wish to reach. Provide a title and URL and submit to this directory.
Offers a range of products and services for markets including Wedding Shoes, Wedding Sandals, Bridal Shoes. Coloriffics Shoes- Speen and Co. has been a member since 2009 in the Clothing and Accessories directory.
Provides full-service adult diaper, plasticpants, products for incontinence services for customers needing needing incontinence protection for day-to-day living and comfort. Visit http://www.driwear.com/ to take advantage of our special rates today.
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Retailer of rubberpants, plastic wear, adult baby. Located in the Clothing and Accessories directory since 2011, Fetware strives to provide superior service and sell the highest quality products.
Find out where you can get MA persian Rug Cleaning, NH oriental rugs, persian and oriental rugs, persian carpets, NH oriental rug cleaning. Since 2010, Persian Rugs of Nashua, NH has been listed in the Gifts Arts and Other directory.
Category: Ma Persian Rug Cleaning, Nh Oriental Rugs, Persian And Oriental Rugs, Persian Carpets, Nh Oriental Rug Cleaning
Burkart Flutes is a premiere flute and piccollo company. Their custom flutes are designed by award-winning artists for bringing out the best in classical, jazz and other styles with flair.
Category: Professional Flute, Custom Piccolo, Flute And Piccolo Headjoint
As an institution, SPF Foundation has been a good corporate sponsor for the MA charitable foundation industry. A member of the directory since 2002 in the Non-Profit section.
Cambodian League is a registered member in the Non-Profit vertical market and services the area's needs. Visit us at http://host.web-print-design.com/cambodian to see how we're helping our clients every day.
Specialized in Associations Foundations and Non-Profit with operations and headquarters in MA, East Coast Jazz is a leading national provider of youth jazz competitions. Directory listing since 2004.
Affordable Associations Foundations and Non-Profit service that provide opportunities to see improv theater. Customized to your requirements by Merrimack Repertory Theatre.
http://host.web-print-design.com/SBCA allows users to search for the best DC Non-Profit for the ideal dish tv, direct TV, satellite internet company as a community partner.
Specialize in Wedding Shoes, Wedding Sandals, Bridal Shoes. Special Events Bridal Shoppe has, since 2007, been listed in the Clothing and Accessories directory.
Provides full-service adult diaper, plasticpants, products for incontinence services for customers needing incontinence protection for day-to-day living and comfort. Visit http://www.driwear.com/ to take advantage of our special rates today.
Category: Adult Diaper, Plasticpants, Products For Incontinence
Retailer of rubberpants, plastic wear, adult baby. Located in the Clothing and Accessories directory since 2011, Fetware strives to provide superior service and sell the highest quality products.
KissMe Lingerie is a registered member in the Retail vertical market and services the area's needs. Visit us at http://host.web-print-design.com/kissme to see how we're helping our clients every day.
Providing a complete range of Clothing and Accessories, SPL Jewelry Sales has been a good corporate sponsor for the CT Retail board. A senior member of this listing since 2000 in the Retail vertical.
Providers of Clothing and Accessories-related services and is located in MA for individuals and corporations looking for local screen printing services. Look to Velocity Screen Printing to solve your larger print production problems.
Distributor with worldwide sales capacity and industrial supply, Westford China in the Retail market sells and services military memorabilia and promotional items in MA, and has been a member since 2001.
Category: Military Decals, Mugs And Other Promotional Products
BoxCarz is a registered member in the Retail vertical market and services the area's needs. Visit us at http://host.web-print-design.com/boxcarz to see how we're helping our clients every day.
Provides a complete range of Retail products for sale, new and used. Located in MA, Caspers Faux Glass services a broad range of retail, business, and institutional clients. Filed with Gifts Arts and Other.
Providing a complete range of Gifts Arts and Other, Gold to Green has been a good corporate sponsor for the MA Retail board. A senior member of this listing since 2008 in the Retail vertical.
Company profile and product/services listings found at http://host.web-print-design.com/holiday. Specializing in the gifts for school fundraising industry, they are part of the Retail Gifts Arts and Other section of the directory.
North American scientific and laboratory equipment company that manufactures vending and arcade equipment. Since 1999, Token Sales has been listed in the Gifts Arts and Other directory.
Yim Trading provides fantastic values on all the latest decorating trends in the Retail market. Specializes in porcelain figurines. Located in MA, Yim Trading has been an Affordable Gifts Arts and Other supplier since 2000.
Distributor with worldwide sales capacity and industrial supply, Brannen Flutes in the Retail market sells and services flutes and piccolos in MA, and has been a member since 2002.
LVI is a registered member in the Retail vertical market and services the area's needs. Visit us at http://host.web-print-design.com/lvi to see how we're helping our clients every day.
Burkart Flutes is a premiere flute and piccollo company. Their custom flutes are designed by award-winning artists for bringing out the best in classical, jazz and other styles with flair.
Category: Professional Flute, Custom Piccolo, Flute And Piccolo Headjoint
Doggie Day provides fantastic values on all the latest animal care trends in the Retail market. Specializes in pet sitting services. Located in MA, Doggie Day has been an Corporate Music and Other Consumer supplier since 2000.
Online retailer of online gaming. Located in the Music and Other Consumer directory since 2004, International Global Gaming Federation strives to provide superior service and sell the highest quality products.
Rizzoli Publishing is a registered member in the Retail vertical market and services the area's needs. Visit us at http://host.web-print-design.com/greek-files to see how we're helping our clients every day.
As one of the area's privately-owned Retail corporations, Perseus Athletics in MA Retail provides Sports medicine, posture training. Member since 2009.
Company profile and product/services listings found at http://host.web-print-design.com/rocky. Specializing in the trail rides industry, they are part of the Retail Sports and Health section of the directory.
Shop SAJA Farms in the Sports and Health category to find the best deals in MA for farmer market, food organic, food natural organic, MA, Massachusetts.
Christine's Day Spa is a registered member in the Retail vertical market and services the area's needs. Visit us at http://host.web-print-design.com/christine to see how we're helping our clients every day.
Specializes in Sports and Health with operations and headquarters in MA, SkiMarket is a leading national provider of Alpine and cross country ski supplies Directory listing since 2004.
Fortunato's Restaurant is an Lowell Italian restaurant and has been a member of the restaurant section since 1999 in the MA Hotels and Restaurants section.
Provides full-service NH Hotel, Lakes Region, Shopping services for customers needing hotel lodging services. Visit http://host.web-print-design.com/tilton-hampton to take advantage of our special rates today.
Tyngs Tavern is a registered member in the Travel and Lodging vertical market and services the area's needs. Visit us at http://host.web-print-design.com/tyngs to see how we're helping our clients every day.
Provides a complete range of Retail car dealer products for sale, new and used. Located in MA, Haverhill Motors services a broad range of retail, business, and institutional clients. Filed with Transport and Logistics
Lumenis / OpusDent gets FDA clearance for laser bone removal
3 January 2005; Yokneam, Israel – Lumenis Ltd. and its dental laser division, OpusDent Ltd., announced FDA clearance of the OpusDuotm Er:YAG laser for contact bone removal during oral surgery and periodontal procedures, using the company’s proprietary contact sapphire tip.
BIOLASE gets continuation patent
13 December 2004; San Clemente, CA – BIOLASE Technology Inc. announced it had been granted U.S. patent No. 6,821,272, which includes 111 claims covering its Waterlase® YSGG and Waterlase® MD erbium laser products. It is a continuation of U.S. Patent No. 6,288,499. The patents pertain to the specific laser pulse technology used in the Waterlase products which is claimed to allow the lasers to effectively interact with water spray to produce a fast, clean, and precise cutting action on dental hard and soft tissues.
OmniGuide reports clinical results with hollow photonic crystal fiber for CO2 laser delivery
30 November 2004; Cambridge, MA – OmniGuide Communications Inc. announced the first clinical results achieved with its hollow-core, photonic crystal fiber for delivering CO2 laser energy. A prototype OmniGuide Fiber was used by Dr. Jamie Koufman at the Center for Voice and Swallowing Disorders of Wake Forest University to treat recurrent respiratory papillomas (RRP) in patients who suffered from near-total obstruction of the larynx and trachea.
The OmniGuide Fiber was used to deliver CO2 laser energy through a flexible Pentax endoscope and treat patients on an outpatient basis. Patients were awake during the procedure and received no anesthesia other than spraying a numbing spray in the throat and trachea. Patients went home immediately after the surgery. When it can be used, this procedure is expected to reduce RRP treatment costs by several tens of thousands of dollars per surgery.
Hollow-core photonic crystal waveguides offer important advantages compared to conventional hollow waveguides for CO2 laser delivery, including longer lengths, reduced bending losses, and improved beam quality. Photonic crystal waveguides are not yet offered for use with CO2 lasers in soft-tissue dental applications, but such products are probably not far off in the future. A more in-depth discussion of photonic crystal fibers and waveguides will appear in an up-coming issue of DAAL™ Update On-line Newsletter.
Millennium Dental gets FDA clearance for Laser ANAP
8 October 2004; Cerritos, CA – Millennium Dental Technologies announced it had received the first FDA clearance ever for MDT’s Laser ANAP® procedure. The specific claim or labeling cleared by FDA is “cementum-mediated new periodontal ligament attachment to the root surface in the absence of long junctional epithelium.” MDT’s Laser ANAP and patented Laser Periodontal Therapy(LPT) procedures are performed with MDT’s PerioLase® MVP-7 pulsed Nd:YAG laser, and are used to treat chronic periodontal gum disease in a minimally-invasive fashion. See Section 11 of DAAL-2004 for more information on the PerioLase MVP-7, Laser ANAP, and LPT.
BIOLASE launches new Waterlase MD product at ADA Annual Meeting
7 October 2004; San Clemente, CA – BIOLASE Technology, Inc. announced successful launch of its new flagship dental erbium laser product for hard and soft tissue dental applications, Waterlase® MD, at the ADA conference held in Orlando, FL from October 1 to 3, 2004. BIOLASE reports it received more than $2.6 million in orders during the three-day conference.
The Waterlase MD provides many new ergonomic features and performance improvements, including a maximum pulse rate of 50 Hz for smoother cutting of soft tissue, and a long-pulse mode for improved hemostasis when cutting soft tissue. The new HydroBeam™ Illuminated Laser Handpiece facilitates hard-tissue applications on teeth and bone. See Section 9 of DAAL-2004 for more information on the Waterlase MD and a color photo.
Notes and Articles
Millennium Dental Technologies breaks new ground in the dental laser world
Millennium Dental Technologies continues to break new ground in the world of laser dentistry. Dr. Robert Gregg II, DDS, and Dr. Delwin McCarthy, DDS, have been performing laser dentistry since the mid-1980’s. In 1994, they founded MDT with the goal of providing dentists with a laser product that could cost-justify itself on the basis of one or two soft-tissue procedures performed with the laser. This was a very ambitious goal at the time. MDT was also the first company to offer a pulsed Nd:YAG laser that allows the practitioner to select among several different pulse durations, which MDT claims is critical to the success of the clinical procedures developed by the company. Other companies who offer pulsed Nd:YAG dental lasers have since followed MDT’s lead and now offer variable-pulse-duration products.
MDT has also proven to be a leader in the training of laser dentists. MDT will not ship a purchased laser until the dentist has completed MDT’s Laser BootCamp™ training program. This was also a rather bold concept in the world of laser dentistry back in the mid-1990’s.
Today, MDT’s PerioLase® MVP-7 pulsed Nd:YAG laser product is used to perform the company’s patented Laser Periodontal Therapy (LPT) procedure and its recently FDA-cleared Laser-Assisted New Attachment Procedure (Laser-ANAP®). These procedures allow a general dentist to perform soft-tissue management of chronic periodontal disease and treat many patients who would otherwise have to be referred out to a periodontist. The Laser-ANAP procedure is innovative in that it appears to involve a biostimulation-type laser-tissue interaction that, MDT thinks, stimulates the activity of stem cells present in the environment of the periodontal ligament.
Testimony to MDT’s market approach and success is provided by the fact that MDT has been able to significantly increase the number of lasers it sells annually even though it has raised the price of its pulsed Nd:YAG product from about $45K to $55K. (The laser price includes licenses to practice MDT’s LPT and Laser-ANAP procedures). This success appears to continue even though much lower-priced dental diode laser products, also intended for soft-tissue management applications in the oral cavity, are being introduced by more and more competitors.
Diode laser prices continue to drop
Semiconductor diode lasers intended for soft-tissue dental applications provide power levels of 2 to 5 watts (some as high as 10 watts) for general purpose cutting of gum tissue with hemostasis. Diode lasers compete with pulsed Nd:YAG, CO2, and argon lasers for use in soft tissue applications.
Many new diode laser products have appeared commercially in recent years that are extremely compact, reliable, and portable. These features are a direct result of the very high electrical-to-optical power efficiency enabled by semiconductor laser-based designs. Their main drawback is that diode lasers do not provide the high peak power levels provided by lasers such as pulsed Nd:YAG and Er:YAG lasers. High peak power capability enables pulsed Nd:YAG lasers to be used for some hard-tissue applications (removal of first-degree caries), and Er:YAG lasers to be used for all hard-tissue and soft-tissue applications. Diode lasers can be used only for soft-tissue procedures, and as a heat source during laser tooth whitening procedures.
The technology of semiconductor diode lasers continues to evolve rapidly. Higher power levels are being provided through smaller-core fibers. New wavelengths are being provided by diode laser-based sources. But, most importantly for the world of laser dentistry, prices of high-power diode laser components are coming down. We at JGM Associates expect that, within the next several years, dentists will be able to purchase a 5-watt dental diode laser for substantially less than $10,000. Nobody really knows where the “trigger level” will be, but we surmise that an eventual sell price in the $5,000 range would dramatically increase the penetration of laser-based soft-tissue management (and tooth whitening) procedures in the dental marketplace by a factor of ten or more.
Ivoclar Vivadent enters the dental laser market
Ivoclar Vivadent, a world renown supplier of dental supplies and equipment, gave a shot in the arm to the credibility soft-tissue laser dentistry when it entered the marketplace in 2004 with its Odyssey® diode laser and bluephase® blue-LED-curing products. With a list price of $11,750, the Odyssey became the most affordable 5-watt diode laser on the market (priced slightly below that of ZAP Lasers’ SoftLase Dental product) when it was introduced in the United States earlier this year. It should be interesting to see if Ivoclar Vivadent can drive down the prices of dental diode lasers just on their basis of their marketing clout.
Erbium lasers in dentistry
Why erbium lasers ?
Due to strong absorption by the collagen, mineral (hydroxyapatite), and water components of calcified tissue, pulsed erbium:YAG lasers (Er:YAG, 2.94 µm) can precisely ablate all hard dental substances, at usefully fast rates, and with relatively low pulse energy and average power. Even healthy tooth enamel, which is highly resistant to visible and other infrared laser wavelengths, can be ablated precisely and easily with erbium laser pulse energies of only 100 millijoules. Higher pulse energies remove increasing amounts of material per pulse.
Surgical precision and control can be excellent when using erbium lasers on teeth, but laser dosimetry must be carefully controlled to avoid photoacoustic damage (tooth cracking) beyond the intended treatment area. The tooth must also be cooled with a water spray, as when using a drill, to prevent overheating of the tooth at the pulse rates typically employed (10 to 50 Hz). No topical-absorber pigment of any sort is required to ablate enamel, dentin, or cementum when using erbium laser wavelengths.
Erbium YSGG lasers (Er,Cr:YSGG) lasers operate at a wavelength of 2.78 µm and have dental capabilities similar to Er:YAG lasers.
Erbium lasers can also be used to precisely cut and ablate soft tissue. However, when using fiber delivery accessories in a non-contact mode, the amount of laser-induced thermal injury is typically so low that relatively little hemostasis (bleeding control) is provided in most situations. Cuts are scalpel-like in that there is almost no healing delay, unlike most other lasers. Erbium lasers are sometimes used with contact-mode, “hot-tip” fiber accessories to improve their utility for soft-tissue cutting with hemostasis. Some erbium laser products (BIOLASE’s Waterlase® MD) provide a long-pulse emission mode to improve hemostasis when cutting soft tissue, and pulse rates as high as 50 Hz to improve the smoothness of cut tissue edges when cutting soft tissue.
Fiber accessories for dental erbium lasers
Delivery of laser energy through an optical fiber delivery accessory greatly facilitates laser treatments in the oral cavity. However, Er:YAG and Er:YSGG laser wavelengths cannot be delivered through standard (quartz) fiberoptic delivery accessories, as are used with dental Nd:YAG and argon lasers. Quartz fibers absorb erbium laser energy strongly and long fiber lengths attenuate the beam severely.
Fortunately, “infrared fiber” accessories have emerged for use with erbium lasers. Infrared fibers include sapphire fibers, zirconium aluminum fluoride, and germanium oxide fibers. These fibers appear to be adequately reliable, cost-effective, and otherwise appropriate for delivering erbium laser energy for dental applications. Erbium laser fiber accessories are new enough, however, that some manufacturers’ fibers may be more reliable than others’. Manufacturers continue to seek new ways to reduce cost and improve the reliability of their erbium laser fiber accessories.
Some dental erbium lasers employ articulated-arm (mirror-based) delivery systems instead of optical fibers. Some laser users find articulated arms much more awkward to use in the oral cavity than fiberoptic delivery accessories, but this can vary according to individual preferences. Certain prospective periodontic and endodontic (root canal surgery) applications of erbium lasers probably require fiberoptic delivery.
Commercially available products
Several erbium laser products now have FDA clearances for hard-tissue applications on teeth. FDA clearances typically include indications such as caries removal, cavity preparation, and enamel etching for treatments in adults and children. One erbium laser product (BIOLASE) also has FDA clearances for bone cutting and apicoectomy indications. Most erbium laser products have FDA clearances for soft-tissue indications. Note that not all products have the same FDA clearances; contact manufacturers for product-specific lists of FDA-cleared indications.
Some products combine an Er:YAG laser with a CO2 laser, or an Nd:YAG laser, in the same enclosure. These so-called “combination laser” systems reduce purchase cost compared to buying two lasers. The present list of commercially available dental erbium laser products (not all of which are available in the USA) includes:
Waterlase YSGG, Waterlase MD (BIOLASE Technology)
DELight (HOYA ConBio) Fidelis Er, Fidelis Er II, Fidelis Plus II (Fotona) OpusDuo (OpusDent) KEY Laser 3 (KaVo) Smart 2940d (Deka Lasers)
