Sealing the Socket With a Laser Preserving Jawbone After a Tooth Comes Out

This application covers a laser assisted ridge preservation method and the device for performing it, using a free running pulsed Nd:YAG laser to clean and seal a tooth socket before a bone graft is placed. The applicant is Millennium Healthcare Technologies, the company behind the LANAP periodontal protocol.

The Problem

When a tooth is removed, the bone that held it begins to disappear. The alveolar process, the ridge of jawbone whose entire biological purpose is to support teeth, resorbs once that purpose is gone, and the loss is fastest in the first months. That has practical consequences: an implant placed later needs bone to anchor into, a denture needs a ridge to seat against, and the facial contour above the missing tooth depends on the bone underneath.

The standard countermeasure is socket preservation, placing a bone graft material into the socket to slow the collapse. It is routine and it works reasonably well, but it inherits the difficulties of the extraction itself. Sockets frequently contain encapsulated granulomatous tissue, the chronic inflammatory tissue that accumulates around a failing tooth, and grafting into a socket that still holds it invites poor healing and complications.

What has been missing, in the specification’s framing, is a minimally invasive surgical method that both improves the therapeutic outcome and shortens healing time.

What This Invention Does

The method uses a free running pulsed neodymium yttrium aluminium garnet laser in two distinct roles within the same procedure. First, the laser photothermally denatures and vaporises encapsulated granulomatous tissue on all sides of the socket, clearing the inflammatory tissue that mechanical curettage handles imperfectly. Second, the socket is irradiated to form a thrombus, a stable blood clot, and the bone graft material is placed into that clot rather than into an open cavity.

The sequence is doing something specific. A clot is the scaffold that natural healing organises around, and a graft embedded in a laser formed thrombus is held in a biologically active matrix instead of sitting loose. The specification also describes using photobiomodulation, low level light applied to stimulate tissue, to accelerate wound healing after the graft is placed.

Parameters are specified rather than left to judgement. Total output energy is within 100 to 200 joules for a bicuspid and 300 to 600 joules for a molar, reflecting the different socket volumes. The delivery fibre ranges between 300 and 600 micrometres in diameter, chosen in part according to the energy density required. The tooth is extracted atraumatically along the root surface and through the periodontal ligament using a periotome, which preserves the socket walls rather than levering against them. The bone graft material is a spongious bone substitute with slow resorption.

The device claims cover a laser and a controller executing stored process steps, with the controller applying device specific and scientifically derived treatment algorithms that set the operating parameters needed for the intended clinical outcome.

Key Features

• Photothermal removal of granulomatous tissue. The laser denatures and vaporises encapsulated inflammatory tissue on all socket surfaces.
• Laser formed thrombus. Irradiation produces a stable clot into which the graft material is placed.
• Atraumatic extraction. The tooth is removed along the root surface through the periodontal ligament with a periotome, preserving socket walls.
• Specified energy ranges. Total output energy is 100 to 200 joules for a bicuspid and 300 to 600 joules for a molar.
• Fibre diameter range. Delivery fibres of 300 to 600 micrometres give the operational range of laser parameters.
• Controller driven algorithms. A controller applies device specific treatment algorithms to set parameters for the desired clinical outcome.
• Photobiomodulation follow up. Low level light therapy after grafting is used to accelerate wound healing.

Who Is Behind It

The applicant is Millennium Healthcare Technologies, Inc., associated with Millennium Dental Technologies, founded in 1994 by Robert H. Gregg II and headquartered in Cerritos, California. The company developed the LANAP protocol for treating periodontal disease and manufactures the PerioLase MVP-7, a free running variable pulsed Nd:YAG dental laser with seven pulse durations. The named inventors are Robert H. Gregg and Dawn M. Gregg.

The application is a divisional of Australian application 2020313953. LARiP, the acronym in the title, stands for laser assisted ridge preservation, following the naming convention the company established with LANAP.

Why It Matters

Dental lasers have had an uneven reputation. They arrived with strong claims, many of which were not supported by the evidence that followed, and a fair amount of professional scepticism persists. The company at the centre of this filing has been unusual in pursuing formal regulatory clearance and published evidence for its protocol rather than marketing the device alone, and its founder has publicly argued for that approach within organised dentistry.

The specific problem being addressed is genuinely common. Extractions are among the most frequent surgical procedures performed anywhere, and the bone loss that follows shapes what treatment remains possible afterwards. Anything that improves the starting condition for a later implant has broad application, and implants are one of the larger revenue categories in dentistry.

What distinguishes this from a general claim about lasers being useful is the specificity: defined energy windows per tooth type, defined fibre diameters, a defined sequence of denaturing then clot formation then grafting, and algorithms embedded in the controller. That is a protocol, and protocols are what let a technique transfer between practitioners with consistent results.

Related Concepts

• Socket preservation – the grafting procedure this method modifies.
• Alveolar process – the jawbone ridge that resorbs after extraction.
• Nd:YAG laser – the laser type used for both tissue removal and clot formation.
• Periodontal disease – the condition behind much of the company’s earlier protocol work.
• Dental implant – the restoration that depends on preserved bone volume.
• Photobiomodulation – the low level light therapy used to speed healing after grafting.

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AU 2026202072 was published in the Australian Official Journal of Patents on 9 April 2026 and is open for public inspection. Patent applications represent inventions that are sought to be protected and do not necessarily reflect commercially available products.