Is Your Dentist Changing with the Digital Age We Live In?
Just like any profession, times are changing in the field of Dentistry. Dentistry is becoming more digital and your dental office should be following suit. Gone are the days of those sticky, gooey impressions and they are being replaced with scanners that take up to 6,000 pictures a second to capture all the details of your teeth. Scanners have really allowed the dental profession to improve our patient care experience and increase the education we are able to provide to our patients. So, what are the top 3 things scanners can be used for?
1. Diagnostic Care
As soon as your first dental visit, the use of digital scanners has become an amazing adjunctive service to access a patient’s oral health. They are utilized to capture and save important information about your teeth and gingival health in a 3D digital impression. A digital scan can be used over time to show the wear to teeth, gum recession that occurs or changes in the alignment of your teeth. With a dental scan, a doctor can also show you how misaligned teeth can be corrected with Invisalign therapy, giving the patient a before and after simulation right there on the spot. How cool is that! The 3D scanner also has a really cool feature that allows a dentist to see the start of early cavities and make recommendations on how to best proceed with dental care. This feature is used as an adjunct to our digital X-rays.
2. Restorative Care/3D Impressions
When a dentist tells you that you need a crown because of a cracked tooth, we can now show you with a quick scan what the problem tooth actually looks like. Not only are we able to take photos of these teeth for diagnosis, but we are also able to send the scan of your prepared tooth directly to our dental labs for fabrication of whatever dental product we are looking for. This cuts out the time it takes to send things via snail mail and gets you into your new crown just that much faster. Another aspect of the digital scanner that patients love is that they no longer have to worry about sitting 5 minutes with a gooey impression in their mouth.
3. Periodontal Monitoring
When it comes to periodontal disease, a digital scanner can also be an effective tool to demonstrate the importance of the dental therapy you receive for periodontal care. A scan before and after treatment can show you the improvement to the gingival health. This scan gives the dentist and their team a benchmark and valuable information on your care.
So, Ask Yourself
Is my dentist keeping up with times and learning to improve your dental experience? At Ashley Dental in Hudson, WI we pride ourselves on our continued education to make your experience as easy and carefree as possible. Call to schedule your appointment today and see what a cool and game changing piece of technology the scanner can be!