LightScalpel

Last week, our doctors got together for CO₂ laser training, learning more about its use in biopsies and other surgical procedures. Always making time to learn new techniques and expand our skills to provide the best care for our patients!

Welcome to the LightScalpel family, Dr. Erik Graham of Baker & Graham Family Dentistry in Hattiesburg, MS! Dr. Graham recently added the LightScalpel Surgical Laser to the practice.

During a demo/in-service day, Dr. Graham took on a smile design case, using the laser to ablate gum tissue and reshape the patient’s gumline. A few days later, the family sent Dr. Graham a thank-you text, including a note from the patient: “Thank you for making my smile look so good!”

Thanks for sharing this case with us, Dr. Graham. We’re glad to have you on board.

Happy Halloween from the LightScalpel team in Bothell, Washington!

To every dentist handing out toothbrushes this weekend: the trick-or-treaters may not thank you, but their next checkup will.

https://na2.hubs.ly/H08KrJn0

For dentists considering a CO₂ laser for frenectomies, Dr. Katie Foster shared what she found when she kept count:

"I kept track of how many frenectomies I did after buying my LightScalpel, and within six months, it had paid for itself. That was a really nice surprise and something I think other dentists would find helpful." - Katie Foster, DMD

That is one practice's experience, and results depend on case mix.

To try a LightScalpel in your own hands, call 866-589-2722 for a demo or request a quote: https://na2.hubs.ly/H08yCq00

Drs. Kenny, Crowder, and Sebourn of Leap Kids Dental in Fort Smith, AR, have added a LightScalpel CO2 laser to their practice, and they’re putting it to work on tongue- and lip-tie releases for babies through teenagers. The release itself is over in minutes. In infants, a tie may show up as clicking during feeds, trouble staying latched, or painful nursing for the mom. For toddlers and older kids, it can manifest as slow eating, food pocketing, or trouble with certain speech sounds.

Leap Kids Dental aims to make a child’s first dental visit a fun, gentle introduction, and that same easygoing approach carries through to treatment. When a tie is involved, the dentists partner with the rest of your child’s care team. The Fort Smith office also offers sedation dentistry and Spanish-speaking care. Learn more at leapkidsdental.com/services/frenectomies or call (479) 306-6156.

Beyond tie releases, the American-made LightScalpel CO2 laser is FDA-cleared for numerous oral soft-tissue procedures. In pediatric dentistry, it can also be used to reshape gum tissue, uncover teeth that are slow to erupt, remove the gum flap over an erupting molar, and remove small growths such as mucoceles. Because the laser seals small blood vessels and nerve endings as it works, kids typically have less bleeding, swelling, and discomfort than with traditional methods. See what laser surgery can mean for your child at lightscalpel.com/patient-laser-surgery

For dermatologists and plastic surgeons: the LightScalpel CO₂ laser is FDA-cleared for more than 50 indications in plastic surgery and dermatology, including blepharoplasty, rhinophyma reduction, skin tag and seborrheic keratosis removal, and Mohs surgery. The 10,600 nm beam cuts and coagulates soft tissue at the same time and is delivered through a flexible fiber to a pen-style handpiece.

See the full list of indications: https://na2.hubs.ly/H08nH3c0

For dentists and surgeons who perform tongue-tie releases: Soroush Zaghi, MD, and colleagues published a prospective study of 445 patients aged 4 and older treated with a fascia-preserving lingual frenuloplasty. The releases were performed using a LightScalpel 10,600 nm CO₂ laser and were paired with myofunctional therapy before and after surgery. The paper describes the technique layer by layer and compares complications with those reported in the group's 2019 protocol.

Read the summary: https://na2.hubs.ly/H08nH260

🎵 A vocal music educator spent 13 years with unexplained vocal fatigue, a limited low range, and TMJ pain. Her ENT found healthy vocal folds. The cause turned out to be a posterior tongue-tie.

Kaitlyn Fay Koch tells the story in the October 2026 issue of NYSSMA’s publication for music educators. Her dentist, Dr. Kristen Geist, DDS, D.ABDSM, CSSC, performed the release with her LightScalpel CO₂ laser.

The treatment followed the full sequence: myofunctional therapy before the procedure, the laser frenuloplasty, then more therapy afterward. Koch reports that her lower range extended by a minor third and that singing felt easier within half an hour of the procedure.

Her article ends with advice for other voice teachers: if a student might have a tongue-tie, refer them to an airway-focused dentist and a myofunctional therapist. Adult tongue-tie patients are finding their way to dentists from well outside dentistry.

Read Koch’s article:https://www.nyssma.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Tongue-ties-and-Singing-My-Story-and-PSA-for-Vocal-Music-Educators-October-2026.pdf