I used to think that lasers were devices used by villains as weapons against the good guys. Despite the fact that there were probably thousands of perfectly benign uses for a laser, it was as weapons of mass destruction that they were firmly planted in my memory.
When I grew a little older and started to believe the bigger boys who told me that 007 James bond wasn’t a real person and that the scene in Goldfinger, where Bond is about to be sliced in half by a nasty looking laser, didn’t really happen, that I realised that lasers actually had other uses. Good uses.
From fantasy to reality!
I was lucky enough to witness one such use to which lasers are now often put, when I visited a steel processing workshop in Sheffield, UK. Known as “Steel City” there was, at the time, a lot of interest there in how lasers could be used to cut steel. The process is faster, cleaner and much more accurate than most other methods of cutting steel. When I saw this technology in action it triggered a flashback to the childhood bond-loving memories I still had of 007 about to be divided into two by a device not unlike the one which was now cutting intricate shapes out of lumps of steel.
Lasers were real, Bond was not.
Cutting steel is a fine thing to do and great to watch but, all joking aside; it is now clear that lasers have a useful part to lay in many other industries and professions, not least of which being Medicine and Dentistry.
I was recently perusing the website of a dentist. Cedar Rapids IA is where he was based and his website featured a raft of dental equipment which utilised lasers and a range of treatments that were dependent upon such equipment.
There was one statistic that I have remembered and which keeps reminding me of my own indignation as a child when, despite have had regular dental checkups, I still needed fillings. The statistic I refer to is this, dental exams using a dental pick detected on average only 57% of potential problems, whereas a laser examination device detected 90% of incidents of decay. Avoid dental problems by paying regular visit to the dental clinic.
Dr. Adrian Rehak, an established dentist in Cedar Rapids offers extensive laser facilities.
