A Compendium of Principles and Practice of Laser Biophotonics in Oral Medicine

Photonics is a light-based optical technology that is considered as the leading technology for the new millennium. The science of light generation, manipulation, transmission, and measurement is known as photonics. The application of photonics technologies and principles to medicine and life sciences is known as biophotonics. Laser (Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century in biophotonic technology. In the field of oral medicine, lasers have a multitude of preventive, therapeutic and adjunctive applications. Applications in clinical scenarios like orofacial pain, temporomandibular joint disorders, potentially malignant disorders of oral mucosa, herpes, recurrent apthous ulcers, burning mouth syndrome, nerve repair, laser and antimicrobial photodynamic therapies in cancer patients, non-neoplastic proliferative lesions of oral soft tissue, and vascular lesions have shown promising results. Lasers also aid in optically enhanced diagnosis of oral lesions using florescence, coherence and spectroscopic techniques. This endeavour is a concise but comprehensive body of information, written in a simple tone, attempting to cruise the readers' vision through every perspective, to seek objective information on all aspects of the instrument and its uses, fostering a preliminary step towards efficient laser diagnosis and therapy. The book facilitates exploration of physical concepts with lucidity without getting engrossed in excruciating jargon.