• Cosmetic Dentistry
  • Porcelain Veneers
  • Tooth Whitening
  • Tooth-Colored Fillings
  • Dental Bonding
  • Porcelain Crowns
  • Dental Bridges
  • Inlays/Onlays
• Smile Makeover
• Full Mouth Rejuvenation
• Neuromuscular Dentistry
  • TMD Diagnosis
  • TMD Treatments
• Sedation Dentistry
• General Dentistry
  • Invisalign®
  • Periodontal Therapy
  • Endodontics
• Laser Dentistry
  • Gum Recontouring
• Implant Dentistry
• FAQs
  • Porcelain Veneers
  • Dental Bonding
  • Porcelain Crowns
  • Dental Bridges
  • Dental Implants
  • Tooth-Colored Fillings
  • Tooth Whitening
  • Inlays/Onlays
  • Gum Recontouring
  • Smile Makeover
  • Full Mouth Rejuvenation

Use of lasers has transformed not only dentistry, but the entire medical world. Lasers have many enormous benefits, and there are a great many types of laser, each devised for a specific purpose. At Softouch Dental Care in Oakton, Virginia, we use lasers in cosmetic dentistry and general dentistry. We have both a soft tissue laser and a hard tissue laser. We use them to:

• Reshape teeth
• Reshape gums
• Remove tooth decay and bacteria
• Whiten teeth
• Remove lesions

All laser dentistry is fast, precise, quiet, and virtually painless. You will have little or no bleeding, because the laser seals tissue as it works on it. Because there is so little trauma to the body, you will have a fast recovery period. No infection will develop afterwards because the laser kills micro-organisms in the treatment area as it works. Because the laser is so precise, only the exact treatment area will be affected, and nothing beyond it.

If, for instance, you have laser gum recontouring, the soft-tissue laser will vaporize tiny pieces of gum tissue according to a pre-determined plan. This will bring more of each tooth into view, so that your smile will look more full and youthful. The teeth were not too short after all, just covered by gums. You can walk out of our office after that treatment and resume normal activities immediately. In past years, such work was done with a scalpel and would have required pain medication and downtime from work and daily routines.

What is a laser?
It is a man-made device which delivers energy in the form of light. The light is not scattered, like ordinary incandescent light or car headlights. It travels in parallel beams and can be focused with extraordinary precision. Each laser vibrates at a specific wavelength, which corresponds to a color. Some are easily visible, such as the red laser in a classroom pointer. Some are invisible, vibrating at levels beyond our range of vision, and are classified as infrared or ultraviolet lasers.

All lasers generate heat, although some are referred to as “cool”, being relatively cool. There are various ways of cooling a laser beam to prevent it burning tissue and in some instances, heat is desired, as in laser skin resurfacing. When a laser is used for surgical or dental work, it acts as a cutting instrument far more precise than any blade. It vaporizes the tissue it touches. There are lasers so hot they can vaporize their way through a block of steel, but those used on human tissue are of course far more subtle and gentle.

Our use of lasers

• When Dr. Chung uses a laser, he is in complete control of it. He can set it according to the particular treatment he is doing, and since dental lasers have a very narrow beam, he can direct it to tiny crevices which might otherwise be hard to reach.
• You might still need some local anesthetic, depending on what is being done, but not necessarily. A laser can be set to penetrate tissue at a given microscopic depth, and this can keep it away from any nerves or blood vessels.
• In removing tooth decay, the laser will leave more healthy tooth tissue in place than traditional drilling.
• If you would normally feel your discomfort rising at the sound of a dental drill, the laser will leave you calm and relaxed.
• If you have some small mismatching between upper and lower teeth which doesn’t require use of porcelain crowns or even dental bonding to correct, a hard tissue laser can quickly remove tiny fragments of tooth to make your bite more smooth and comfortable.

In these days of advanced dental technology, there is little objective reason to fear visiting your dentist. But if you are a person who particularly dreads seeing the dentist, please be assured that we understand that, and we offer sedation dentistry to help you with that anxiety.

Please call or email us to arrange your initial consultation. We feel confident that you will enjoy our comfortable and friendly facilities, and we hope to work with you soon. Our office serves Oakton, Vienna, McLean, Great Falls, Tyson’s Corner, Reston, Herndon, Fairfax, Falls Church, Chantilly, Centreville, Alexandria, Arlington, Loudon Counties, Washington D.C. and the Maryland area.

Michael K. Chung, D.D.S.
2946-E Chain Bridge Road
Oakton, VA 22124
tel. 703 319 6990