"The first to demonstrate coherent light emission from a semiconductor diode (the first laser diode), is widely acknowledged to have been Robert N. Hall and his team at the General Electric research center in 1962" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_diode
Lol are you trying to explain to your mom that lasers arent just for burning stuff but there for important medical practices and are highly usefull in society lol... Ive been there, Then after awhile I could finaly make my own diy ;D
The green beam, usually (set at around 50mW I think) has been found to stimulate healing for patients. This was found for things like athletic injuries or soreness... I'm not sure about other types of injuries... say from a bullet ;D
It's down to IR as well as other aspects of the laser. It's nothing new that you can get IR healers pretty cheap and use them to stimulate muscle pains and sores. A laser is far more concentrated. It's uses are pretty much limited to burning. With teeth it's used to burn away plaque.
Lasers also speed up the closure of a small open cut by using heat to speedup the clotting of platelets in the blood. This would be extremely painful unless practiced properly and by the right people (ie. not yourself).