Advances in dental technology have made dental care easier and more precise. They’ve also made many dental procedures more comfortable for the patient. The dentists at Edgewood Dental Care in Edgewood, KY stay up to date on the technologies that make it easier to diagnose — and treat — your dental issues.
Traditional X-rays work like this. X-rays produce radiographs, which are images of structures they pass through. Hard tissues like bones or teeth are more difficult for the rays to penetrate so that’s why they show up white on film.
We can see damage to the bone or tooth structure because the shades of gray in the film show the different density of the structures.
Then came digital technology that let us use sensors to capture images that we can look at immediately on a computer screen.
Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) is a great example of digital technology that we use in our office. CBCT equipment rotates around your head and takes multiple images that are then compiled into three-dimensional images.
One of the advantages of CBCT is that it lets our dentists view different angles of your mouth and teeth, depending on what we need to look at. We can get all that information from one scan. A CBCT scan might not be for everyone, but it’s great to have such a diagnostic tool available in our office.
The old method of taking an impression of your teeth involved using a thick goop in your mouth that hardened around your teeth creating the impression.
In our office, we use an iTero scanner to capture impressions of your teeth. iTero is a state-of-the-art scanning system that creates three-dimensional images of your teeth. It gives us accurate digital impressions of your teeth and gums in just minutes.
With iTero, we use a small, handheld scanner that captures every angle of your mouth possible. Once that’s done, the images are sent to a computer, which creates a composite image.
iTero And Invisalign
Images created with iTero can be used to make some dental procedures more accurate. One example of this is with Invisalign, a clear teeth aligner that is an alternative to traditional metal braces.
iTero helps creates the molds, or dental alignment trays, that are used in the straightening process. The process is faster for the patient.
iTero And Restorations
If you have a tooth that’s damaged and needs to be replaced or have a crown on it, we can take a scan of that tooth and the area around it. This lets us more easily determine the best solution for that tooth.
iTero And TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder)
The iTero can take a full scan of your teeth. From those scans, we can see if there’s a problem with the alignment of your bite. If we see an issue, we can then take steps to restore the functionality of your teeth and jaw.
The LANAP protocol is a less painful alternative to surgery for gum disease treatment. It uses a laser fiber that gently clears away the bacteria that cause gum disease. Also, the LANAP protocol is the only scientifically proven treatment that can regrow tissues and bone lost to gum disease.
Restorations With CEREC
CEREC stands for Ceramic Reconstruction. It’s a system that uses CAD/CAM technology to make high quality, metal-free dental restorations in a single appointment.
The area of concern is photographed and then stored as a three-dimensional model. That model is then created using a milling machine that carves the restoration out of a ceramic block. Then the restoration is bonded to your tooth using resin.
No more wearing a temporary restoration and having to wait for weeks for the permanent one to be made.
New dental technology is making our work easier and more perfect. For you, that means it’s less time-consuming and more comfortable. At Edgewood Dental Care in Edgewood, KY, dentistry is our passion and our patients are our main concern. Because of that, we use the technology that helps us help you the best.