What comes to mind when you think of “dentistry”? I’m sure that your first thought may have included an older, white-haired male with a mask and gloves with a drill in hand!
In reality, this imagination could not be further from the truth! In the last 25 years, lasers aren’t just for hair removal or 20-20 vision. There are several uses for the laser these days, including pain-free dentistry.
Shot-free, pain-free dental fillings
If you’ve had a filling before, you may remember the days when a shot of novocaine was standard practice before working on a tooth. In case you’re unaware, the shot itself wasn’t always the worst part. Sometimes, even with the anesthetic, you could still feel the dental instruments “drilling” a hole in your tooth. However, since the invention of laser dentistry, the process of removing tooth decay has changed drastically! Gone are the days of uncomfortable novocaine shots accompanied by their lingering numbness and drooling!
Laser technology for removing dental decay ensures children will not be stressed or frightened during the treatment of dental cavities. The Waterlase helps desensitize the tooth and removes the decay. Patients do not have to experience the “shot,” a numb feeling, post-op lip biting, cheek biting, tongue biting, drooling, etc. that would be associated with a local anesthetic. Since we do not have to worry about the local anesthetic, we can complete treatment on multiple areas of the mouth safely and efficiently. This ultimately reduces the number of dental visits for the child and makes the overall dental experience so much more enjoyable – they want to keep coming back!
Tongue and Lip ties procedure
Have you heard of someone being “tongue-tied”? In the past this phrase would often be an expression for someone who may trip over their words, but after years of research we now know that tongue-ties and lip-ties can affect our feeding, speech, dental and mouth development, quality of breathing and sleep along with plethora of other long term health compensations.
Laser’s soft tissue capabilities allow for a biologically protective method of providing procedures such as frenectomies to our newborns, infants, toddlers, and children with special needs. It desensitizes and removes soft tissue rather than ‘cutting’ it. There is no
need for local anesthetic or putting a baby to sleep under general anesthesia to complete the procedure.
Pediatricians, lactation consultants, doulas, midwives, chiropractors, speech pathologists, and feeding therapists have joined the ranks of our top referral sources. Families travel multiple hours and choose to come to our practice while passing hundreds of dentists on the way to take advantage of our expertise and Waterlase technology. Seeing mothers experience the joy of being able to breastfeed their infants and parents witnessing the happiness and satisfaction that a baby can experience after an efficient and effective feed due to the laser frenectomy procedure is priceless!
Patients with special needs
In our practice, we have patients who have sensory issues and do not like the feeling of toothbrush bristles on their gums. This leads to cavities near their gum line. If we only offered “traditional” dentistry solutions to treat them, there would be a significant amount of bleeding around the gum tissue and this would prevent us from keeping that area isolated. Additionally, they are often afraid of vibrations and cannot tolerate the conventional ‘drill’ for their dental treatment as they feel overwhelmed and overstimulated. Laser allows for more conservative, gentle, and clinically excellent treatment outcomes especially in these cases that would otherwise be impossible to achieve. Anytime I have a toddler or child with varying health challenges, whether they are medical history related or behavioral in nature, its invaluable service to provide preventive or minimally invasive care.
Early on during my dental school training, even my patients would tell me “doc! You need to be a pediatric dentist!” I would sing for them, I would count for them, anything to make their dental care experience better. When I first set out to open my solo practice, I was not sure exactly where the location of my practice was going to be, but I knew that I was going to be a laser dentist.
Today, I can happily report that lasers have allowed me to keep loving dentistry and pediatrics by helping create beautiful smiles, fun memories and life long relationships with my patients and families.
I’m a Pediatric Laser Dentist and I’m never looking back!
About Dr. Jaju
Dr. Rishita Jaju is a Board Certified Pediatric Dentist who completed her dental education at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. She received specialty training in Pediatric Dentistry at
Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC where she was appointed Chief Resident. She is the only pediatric dentist in the Mid-Atlantic region who has achieved Advanced Laser Proficiency Certification from the Academy of Laser Dentistry and a Breastfeeding Specialist Certification. She is the founding dentist of the Reston, VA-based Smile Wonders that specializes in infant oral health and feeding issues.
This mommy dentist enjoys going home to her loving husband, active toddler and 2 adorable maltese doggies – Kaju (cashews) and Kulfi (icecream). She is looking forward to traveling all over the world again and has visited every continent except Antarctica!
I’m a Pediatric Laser Dentist and I’m never looking back!
