What the Latest Technology Innovations Mean for Dentistry Today and in the Future

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

What the Latest Technology Innovations Mean for Dentistry Today

Hold on to your hat, your seat or anything else nearby. Once again, the dental industry is advancing rapidly.

The number and impact of new product introductions at the Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting is only eclipsed on a year when International Dental Show meets in Cologne, Germany, and this year both events were teeming with innovations worth noting.

While neither event showed much in the way of groundbreaking materials, the overwhelming trend was the continued march toward the digital side of dentistry. Everything is getting better, faster, more precise, and with better resolution. We saw a few new players hit the market with some interesting new features and concepts, but the giants of the industry continue to stay ahead of the pace with innovations of their own. 

Digital Impressions – No Longer a Fad

Digital impression systems continue to expand their reach, and it seems the industry has started to accept the fact that these systems provide better accuracy and a more efficient workflow than their goop predecessors. One big addition to the digital impression scene comes from Dental Wings, an established name in the dental laboratory scanner market. They have the DWIO system readying for launch. Compared to other systems out there, it boasts an even tinier camera. The head of the camera is a T-bar shape and it features 10 integrated cameras set up in pairs for redundant scanning. The high resolution touch screen makes navigation of scan data easy, but the coolest feature of the system is the motion sensor mounted above the monitor to detect hand movements. It provides a touch-free way to control your machine and review or manipulate digital impression scans. When you are rotating the digital model with your hand rotating in the air, you will definitely be feeling like Tom Cruise in Minority Report.

Of course the established names in the digital impression space aren’t standing still watching new innovations hit the scene. New and improved versions of leading systems have also been announced recently including new systems from Align Technology and 3Shape. Align’s new iTero Element brings a smaller scanning wand and faster scan times, while 3Shape’s TRIOS 3 also features a new smaller wand—available with a choice of pen style or pistol style grips—along with an integrated intraoral camera and shade matching.

3D Printing Makes the Digital Physical

ImageOnce you have a digital impression, you will immediately notice a change in workflow. Whether you utilize in-office milling, appreciate faster returns from the lab, or a simply more accurate restorations, your practice will run differently. But the change doesn’t stop there. Instead of getting back the same green stone model you have gotten for 30 years, what if you got a lifelike full color model that showed the difference in teeth and gum tissue? Or a surgical guide with a model that allowed you to see complete tooth and nerve anatomy? Stratasys is making models just like that with their Objet260 Dental Selection 3D printer. They can print a variety of colors in multiple materials that allows for efficient creation of life-like models. This has the potential to change not only workflow for the lab, but even case presentations for a patient. Better than any digital Photoshop-like simulation is allowing a patient to hold a full color replica of their teeth with a 3D printed version of their veneers.

Intraoral Cameras Less Expensive Than Your Phone

ImageIf you take a look at the Buyers Guide for Intraoral Cameras, you will see why they are so important to your practice. Over the years we have seen improvements such as capture boxes replaced by simple USB connections, but the pricing of these cameras has remained in the several thousand dollar range. MouthWatch is a company that came along with an intraoral camera that has simply crushed that pricing. At almost 1/10 the cost of other cameras, the MouthWatch cameras offer the same simple USB connections, LED lighting and diagnostic image resolution of other options. While the MouthWatch camera works with most practice management and imaging software applications, the company also offers a cloud based storage solution that allows patients to securely view their images from home as well as to review your treatment recommendations. With a camera at such a low price point, now you can have a camera for every treatment room, and your office, and your car.

Lasers: The Technology that Continually Redefines Itself

Lasers in dentistry have seen a tremendous rise and fall in use and popularity. After establishing themselves as a cutting-edge technology, dental lasers seemed to fall out of the spotlight, and this was especially true for multi-tissue lasers. However, the last 12 months has seen a revitalization of the field with an ever expanded list of procedures you can perform using a dental laser, especially in periodontics. During the recent meetings this expansion gained speed. In Chicago AMD Lasers brought their diode laser into the perio space with the new Picasso Perio Dental laser. The tiny laser sits on top of a cart designed to be an all-in-one station for perio treatment. At the same event BIOLASE introduced their new WaterLase iPlus 2.0 all tissue laser. Designed for cutting hard and soft tissue, this erbium laser also comes with on-board settings for various perio indications which can help guide a clinician through the laser perio treatments. Convergent Dental also recently introduced their perio tip for their hard and soft tissue CO2 laser, Solea. The Ultraguide handpiece and 15/400 Hollow Waveguide is designed to deliver the 0.25 mm beam into the pocket for treatment of perio disease and periimplantitis.

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Implants Keep Improving

Dental implants have been around for decades, but we continue to see tweaks to systems on the surgical side, as well as restorative connections. Nobel Biocare has been continuing to follow the internal conical connection that has shown success, and has debuted straight, non-tapered implants with that connection. They also have a new ability with angled drivers to place the access hole at an angle. Think about those anterior implants that are cement retained but would otherwise have the screw access toward the facial due to bone angulation. You can now place the access hole toward the lingual and with the use of their Omnigrip driver, secure the retention screw at an angle.

Anesthetic Buffering 2.0

ImageWe first saw anesthetic buffering at the Chicago Midwinter meeting several years ago. The idea is that a buffered anesthetic will take hold faster due to its neutral ph. The buffering agent is sodium bicarbonate, a chemical that is apparently hard to keep stable long enough to use in the operatory.  The idea has now been refined as Anutra Medical introduced the newest addition to the market with their Anutra local anesthetic delivery system. Rather than switching out your bicarbonate every day, Anutra has a shelf life of four days. At the recommended dosage for lidocaine, you can get up to 25 injections at 2 ml each. Even if you didn’t buffer the anesthetic, one of the best features of the system is the disposable multi-dose syringe. You can load up to 6 ml at a time, compared with the typical 1.8 cc dose that requires you to stop and reload often.

As digital technology advances, the clutter of case pans and old stone models in our practices and labs will be replaced by computer screens and ethernet cables. Cutting edge dental technology has just become too easy to integrate, and very simply, it works. Considering the creeping rise in cost of operating a dental practice, and the continued fall in compensation from PPOs, the modern dentist cannot afford to miss out on opportunities to improve efficiency in their office using the latest innovations and digital tools.

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