A variety of lasers has been used for hard tissue procedures in dentistry, with erbium lasers now being accepted as the golden standard for these procedures. This study describes a new, highly accurate and repeatable methodology for measuring ablation rates in hard dental tissue, comparing the performance of the two main erbium wavelengths used, Er:YAG (2940 nm) and Er,Cr:YSGG (2780 nm), and discussing the observed differences between the two types of erbium lasers.
