This lady dentist is slowly and gradually inching closer toward the final frontier of dentistry. This self described Star Trek fan and owner of offices in Alton and Glen Carbon has just purchased an erbium laser to get rid of the need for hand held drills and anesthesia in most cavity preparations and a lot other dental procedures. The $47,000 equipment is located in her office in Alton. Her patients who have undergone laser treatment have exceeded 20 since the day it was delivered. The patients have expressed that they are really glad they didn’t have to get numbed. But there remains to be some reports of slight pain while under the laser procedure. When asked to does a pain scale, they replied 2 out of 10. Even with the anesthesia, however, you still get that little pain.