Dental Laser Calculator

Each wavelength is absorbed differently by the target tissue. Er:YAG (2940nm) is strongly absorbed by water, which is what makes it the only one of the four suited to hard-tissue ablation -- the others lack the tissue interaction needed to safely and effectively cut enamel or dentin, so this calculator marks those combinations unsuitable rather than returning a power setting that has no real protocol behind it.

It is the published starting-point power setting for the selected laser type and procedure, capped at whatever Max Available Power you entered for your unit. If your unit's maximum power is below the typical recommendation, the calculator will show your unit's ceiling instead -- meaning the procedure may take longer or need a different technique, not that the setting is wrong.

Fluence is average power divided by treatment area, so spreading the same power over a larger area lowers the energy density delivered to any one spot, while concentrating it over a smaller area raises that density. Two settings can share the same power number and still carry very different thermal risk if the treatment area differs -- which is why fluence, not power alone, is flagged when it crosses the high-fluence warning threshold.

Yes. Total energy delivered is the average power multiplied by how long the laser is active, and both a thicker tissue section and a larger treatment area increase the estimated active lasing time, so Total Energy rises with either one even though Fluence (energy density per second) moves in the opposite direction as area grows -- more area means the same power is spread thinner per spot, but the procedure also runs longer overall, so the total energy delivered still increases.

Continuous-wave energy delivers heat steadily, which soft tissue tolerates reasonably well at the lower powers used for gingivectomy or frenectomy. Hard-tissue ablation needs much higher peak power to fracture enamel and dentin through micro-explosive water vaporization, and delivering that peak power continuously would generate excessive heat -- pulsing lets the tissue cool between pulses, which is why the Er:YAG hard-tissue setting in this calculator uses a pulsed duty cycle rather than continuous wave.