Training and use of lasers in postgraduate orthodontic programs in the United States and Canada

This study was designed to determine if orthodontic residents are being trained to use lasers in the postgraduate orthodontic residency programs of the United States and Canada. An anonymous electronic survey was sent to the program director/chair of each of the seventy orthodontic residency programs, and thirty-seven (53 percent) of the programs responded. Of these thirty-seven programs, twenty-eight (76 percent) reported providing patient treatment with lasers in the orthodontic graduate program, eight (22 percent) said they do not provide treatment in the orthodontic graduate program, and one program (3 percent) reported providing laser training but not using lasers on patients. Gingivectomy and canine exposure were reported as the most common procedures that residents perform with a laser, while debonding of orthodontic brackets was the least common procedure performed with a laser. A diode laser was the most common type of laser used. Of the eight programs (22 percent) not offering laser training, four indicated having no plans to begin using lasers or training on their use. The other four indicated that they have plans to incorporate laser use in the future.