Objective

In this course, you will learn best practices regarding tongue-tie assessment and treatment and participate in a hands-on workshop where you will learn how to remove tongue-ties through the use of soft-laser tissue on pig jaws.

Course Description

Enhance your understanding of issues of pediatric laser dentistry, including tongue-ties and lip-ties! As many as 5% of all babies born in the US have tongue-ties significant enough to cause breastfeeding difficulties. Affected babies often fail to thrive and can be erroneously labeled as “lazy nursers” or “stubborn feeders”.

Clinical Curriculum

Demonstrate a wide range of didactic and clinical tools for the use of lasers in pediatric dentistry
Present basic knowledge and education about Dental Lasers adhering to the established standards of education
Instruct Dentistry, Lactation Consultants, Speech and Language Therapists, and other allied health care providers to understand the efficient and safe application of laser energy in everyday
Provide sound scientific basis and proven efficacy of use of lasers in Dentistry in order to ensure public safety
Explore current methods of clinical assessment, diagnosis and treatment of lingual and labial ties. Attendees will be able to:
Understand infant sucking physiology and how tongue ties implant infant suck;
Use reliable diagnostic criteria to screen babies for this condition; and
Understand all consequences and benefits of using lasers to remove oral restrictions
Through participation in a hands-on workshop, the course attendees will learn to remove oral restrictions using soft-tissue lasers

Hands-On

The HANDS-ON portion of the program will be performed on tissue samples and pig jaws and includes:

• Laser incising in SuperPulse and non-SuperPulse Modes with focused laser beam
• Deep high-power incisions vs shallow low-power incisions
• Laser coagulation and hemostasis with defocused laser beam
• Laser Incising under tissue tension
• Laser Tongue Tie Release simulation
• Laser Buccal Tie release simulation
• Laser Vestibuloplasty simulation
• Laser Biopsy simulation
• Simulated laser operculectomy, fibroma excision, gingivectomy, etc
• Superficial laser ablation of epithelium
• Superficial laser heating of epithelium
• Simulated laser treatment of ulcerous lesions

Laser Curriculum

Laser Surgery and Safety Basic Knowledge Certification Curriculum for this course has been developed by the American Laser Study Club (ALSC). The ALSC’s curriculum overcomes the known limitations of many laser dentistry courses, and includes the detailed physics of soft tissue ablation and coagulation with laser and hot tip (non-laser) devices. Laser hands-on wetlab on tissue samples will include different laser wavelengths and will include laser safety instructions, and demonstrations. Laser instructions will be assisted by guest speaker Peter Vitruk, PhD, MInstP, CPhys, DABLS, a laser physicist who founded the American Laser Study Club and LightScalpel, LLC.