It's a sound that sends shivers up the spine, especially for Jennifer Pochatek. She's at the dentist for a cold sore inside her mouth. She gets them all the time.

"They inflame my mouth; they cause my mouth sometimes to bleed, so it's pretty painful," Pochatek says. But now, instead of waiting weeks for the pain to go away, Dentist Richard Betor, DDS, is zapping the sore using a new high-tech laser called Waterlase MD.

The laser energizes water that instantly kills bacteria that causes sores. Dr. Betor does more than 50 dental procedures with it, from root canals to bone and gum surgery -- most of them done without that dreaded drill.

"We don't use sutures; we don't use scalpels; we don't have a lot of bleeding, and the swelling is almost nonexistent," Dr. Betor, of Betor Cosmetic Dental Group in Rocky River, Ohio, tells Ivanhoe.

Replacing the drill with a laser can eliminate the need for needles or anesthesia -- good for nervous kids and teens like Stephanie Arth. She needed a cavity filled and was happy it didn't mean a shot and numb lips. "I like it better because I can actually feel my mouth, and one side isn't going this way and the other way," she says.

The laser can't be used on silver or gold fillings or certain kinds of porcelain. It is FDA approved, however only a few-hundred dentists around the country have the laser, mainly due the initial cost of the equipment, which is $85,000. Dr. Betor says as long as dentists are trained properly, there are no associated risks.

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