Systems and methods for pulsing and directing a pulsed laser beam to treat dental tissue

A dental laser system for removing a region of dental tissue, the system comprising:

• a laser source for generating a plurality of laser pulse bursts of a laser beam;
• a beam guidance system adapted to direct the plurality of laser pulse bursts to respective tissue locations in a pattern within the region of dental tissue to form a plurality of abutting craters, wherein the abutting craters comprise at least one of:
• (i) a pair of partially overlapping craters, (ii) a pair of tangent craters, and (iii) a pair of spaced craters separated up to a specified maximum distance;
• and
• a controller adapted to control the laser source and the beam guidance system such that the pattern is a function of crater size determined at least in part on a width of the laser beam, energy per pulse of the laser beam, and a characteristic of the tissue.

A method for removing a region of dental tissue, the method comprising:

• directing a first laser pulse burst to a first tissue location in a pattern of tissue locations within the region of dental tissue;
• directing at least one additional laser pulse burst to at least one additional non-adjacent tissue location in the pattern;
• and
• directing a next laser pulse burst to a tissue location in the pattern adjacent to the first tissue location,
• wherein a quantity of additional non-adjacent tissue locations is determined based, at least in part, on (i) a thermal relaxation time corresponding to melting of the dental tissue and (ii) a property of the laser pulses.

A dental laser system for removing a region of dental tissue, the system comprising:

• a laser source for generating a plurality of laser pulse bursts of a laser beam;
• a beam guidance system adapted to:
• direct a first laser pulse burst to a first tissue location in a pattern of tissue locations within the region of dental tissue;
• direct at least one additional laser pulse burst to at least one additional non-adjacent tissue location in the pattern;
• direct a next laser pulse burst to a tissue location in the pattern adjacent to the first tissue location,
• wherein a quantity of additional non-adjacent tissue locations is determined based, at least in part, on (i) a thermal relaxation time corresponding to melting of the dental tissue and (ii) a property of the laser pulses.