The Er:YAG laser ablation of hard dental tissues and artificial dental stones was studied. The hole depth after ablation was measured as a function of pulse energy and pulse number. The dental gypsum products allowed systematic study of how pulse energy, pulse number, and water content affected ablation. The studies on human teeth compared teeth stored in saline vs teeth stored in formalin.
V. A. Vickers, S. L. Jacques, J. A. Schwartz, M. Motamedi, S. Rastegar, M. R. Ostermeyer, "Ablation of hard dental tissues with the Er:YAG laser," SPIE Proceedings of Laser-Tissue Interaction III, edited by S. L. Jacques, 1646, 46- 55 (1992).