For biological hard tissues as well as for artificial restoration
materials, ultra-short laser pulses (USLP) have proven their suitability
for ablation with negligible collateral damage providing many advantages.
For this paper, it was the aim to investigate the suitability of scanned
USLP for the ablation of dental restorative materials compared to the
microsecond pulses of conventional Erbium lasers. Scanning electron
microscopy allowed analyzing the quality of the cavity surfaces with
respect to structural properties as well as temperature exposition.
Quantitative results about the ablation efficiency are given for different
laser parameters on dental hard tissue and a broad variety of dental
restoration materials, the latter being reported for the first time.