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Here is what’s NEW in Dentistry: *Look Ma, no drill! A promising new air abrasive system has been developed... Dentists have tried for years to develop a substitute for the dental drill.The most recent attempts have been: 1) a chemical system that used powerful chemicals to dissolve away decay and 2) dental lasers that za pped Mr. Tooth Decay with vaporizing light. But they have had problems, so they haven’t caught on.This new air abrasion system is actually like a miniature sand blasting unit. Small particles of abrasive material are propelled at the cavity in a tiny, high pressure’ air stream. The little particles wear away the cavity just like the way the street sand blaster wears away the lane stripes on the street. What makes the system so attractive is that; 1) it may not require numbing, 2) there is very little vibration, and 3) often much less of the tooth is removed. In my opinion, it is too early yet for us to purchase one of these units; 1) we need more unbiased research to be done to be sure that this approach really does work, and 2) the price needs to come down a great deal so we don’t have to raise our fees unreasonably. *Electronic Numbing Just how effective is it?You may have heard about electronic numbing using a "TENS" type machine similar to ones being used for muscle therapy. We have decided not to purchase a unit for two reasons; 1) because we probably get the same amount of numbing using Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) and 2) when the staff tried it, they did not like electric shock feeling and muscle twitching that it produced. * Digital Radiography Instead of placing a film in your mouth, an electronic wafer about the same size is placed there. The image that the wafer receives is transmitted through small wires to a computer that stores the images. There are several reasons why Digital Radiography is desirable: 1) the image can be enlarged and/or colorized to aid in diagnosis and patient education and that allows us to diagnose and treat disease more effectively, 2) the image is produced instantly so there is no waiting for film to develop, 3) it would eliminate the expensive costs of processing film, and 4) the images could be stored electronically to reduce chart storage. There are only 2 reasons we are waiting on this system: 1) the technology is still new so there are bugs that need to be worked out and 2) it is terribly expensive. These problems should disappear with time! *The "Intra-oral" T.V. camera A T.V. camera that fits the mouth! About three years ago, intraoral video cameras were introduced in dentistry and they have taken the profession by storm. A tiny camera is mounted in a unit about the size of a pencil. It gives close up views instantly inside your mouth on a T.V. screen.To be honest, our 35mm. camera system (that we have been using for years) gives sharper, more storable pictures than any of these systems. This means that we can use them more effectively for finding dental disease, treatment planning, and patient education. We will be watching this technology closely for developments that could make it superior to our existing system and worth changing to. |
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