We present a finite element model to investigate the dynamic thermal and mechanical response of ceramic materials to pulsed infrared radiation. The model was applied to the specific problem of determining the influence of the pulse duration on the stress levels reached in human dental enamel irradiated by a CO 2 laser at 10.6μm with pulse durations between 0.1 and 100μs and sub-ablative fluence. Our results indicate that short pulses with durations much larger than the characteristic acoustic relaxation time of the material can still cause high stress transients at the irradiated site, and indicate that pulse durations of the order of 10μs may be more adequate both for enamel surface modification and for ablation than pulse durations up to 1μs. The model presented here can easily be modified to investigate the dynamic response of ceramic materials to mid-infrared radiation and help determine optimal pulse durations for specific procedures.