Akira AOKI DDS, PhD, Professor
Section of Periodontology
Department of Hard Tissue Engineering
Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences
Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU)
Tokyo, Japan

Dr. Aoki received his DDS degree from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Japan in 1989. He was awarded PhD in 1996 and currently works as Professor for Photoperiodontics at the Department of Periodontology, TMDU. He has been engaged in Er:YAG laser research since 1991. Dr. Aoki received the “Best Presentation Award” at the 3rd International Society for Lasers in Dentistry (ISLD) in 1992 and the 7th ISLD in 1998, and T. H. Maiman Award from Academy of Laser Dentistry (ALD), USA in 2001, for excellence in Er:YAG laser research in dentistry. From 2003 to 2004, he was Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, UCSF, USA. He contributes to World Federation of Laser Dentistry (WFLD) (President Elect).

Er:YAG Laser-Assisted Comprehensive Periodontal Pocket Therapy (Er-LCPT)

Recently, lasers are increasingly being used in periodontal therapy because of various advantageous therapeutic effects such as ablation, hemostasis, bactericidal effect as well as biostimulation. Among various lasers, the Er:YAG laser is the most suitable for periodontal treatment because it exhibits effective ablation of periodontal hard and soft tissues, with minimal thermal side effects, and thereby does not impair wound healing. To date, a number of clinical studies for periodontal pocket treatment using Er:YAG laser have been published and some reported positive results; however, a consensus has not yet been reached regarding its effects due to differences in methods and parameters of irradiation for pocket therapy. This presentation introduces a novel procedure, using Er:YAG laser combined with conventional mechanical treatment (Er:YAG laser-assisted comprehensive periodontal pocket therapy: Er-LCPT). Er-LCPT is a minimally invasive flapless surgery and enables safe, effective, and comprehensive debridement of periodontal pockets. In the treatment of residual pockets, the effectiveness and safety of this procedure have been confirmed by case series. Also, significantly improved outcomes of clinical parameters have been detected by RCT study of Er-LCPT when compared to SRP alone. Furthermore, Er-LCPT may also be used as a regenerative therapy in limited cases during initial therapy.

On-line: Esthetic Soft Tissue Management with Er:YAG Laser

Compared to other laser systems, Er:YAG laser is very effective in soft tissue management with dramatically lower thermal side effects, and has become one of the most promising lasers for periodontal aesthetic soft tissue surgery. The application of the Er:YAG laser, sometimes in combination with a surgical microscope, renders the procedure more feasible. It becomes possible to deal with the soft tissues more delicately, thus yielding more satisfactory results, compared to those obtained by conventional methods. In this presentation, I introduce the Er:YAG laser application in gingivectomy/gingivoplasty, melanin removal, and metal tattoo removal.

Workshop: Periodontal and peri-implant therapy using Er:YAG laser

Recently, various lasers have been used for a wide range of oral conditions. Lasers have numerous advantageous physical properties such as ablation, hemostasis, bactericidal effect as well as photo-bio-modulation, making it suitable for treating inflammatory and infectious conditions. Thus, the use of lasers is considered safe and effective for treating oral diseases such as periodontitis and peri-implantitis.

In periodontal and peri-implant applications, the Er:YAG laser has various advantageous properties such as the extremely low thermal side effects to soft tissues, the high decontamination and detoxification effects on the diseased site, the pronounced bleeding from the laser-treated bone surface, as well as the potential photo-bio-modulation effects. The Er:YAG laser would be a suitable preparation tool for periodontal regenerative surgery. Given these observations and evidences, the Er:YAG laser has been recently established as one of the most promising laser systems in periodontics, esthetic and peri-implant therapy.

In this presentation, the current clinical applications of Er:YAG laser for soft tissue management, periodontal nonsurgical and surgical therapy, osseous surgery, peri-implant therapy and esthetic treatment will be discussed, based on scientific evidence from currently available basic and clinical studies as well as case reports. In particular, Er: YAG laser-assisted comprehensive periodontal pocket treatment (Er-LCPT) will be introduced.