Technology

Everyone dreads having paste dental impressions taken because it can be a messy and uncomfortable process. Fortunately, digital dentistry offers a solution to streamline the whole process using a comfortable intraoral scanner.

There’s no need for messy pink paste or biting down on a large metal tray and waiting for several minutes while it sets. With digital impressions, our dentist passes a small digital scanner over your teeth, which translates the image into a highly precise, 3-D virtual impression of your teeth.

Dentists depend on x-rays to help them diagnose dental conditions they can’t see with a visual examination. Cavities commonly develop between teeth and in places we can’t see them, making dental x-rays invaluable.

We choose digital x-rays for our patients because they emit about 80 percent less radiation than traditional film x-rays. Taking digital x-rays is also faster and more comfortable because we’ve replaced the bulky plastic film clip that you had to bite down on with a flat digital sensor.

The sensor not only fits more comfortably in the mouth, but it also captures precise, highly detailed images that are not always possible with film x-rays. Sharing the images with you and explaining what they mean helps keep you informed about your oral health needs and understand why we recommend treatment.

Kept as part of your digital patient record, your x-rays are always available to us within moments, adding yet another way we streamline your dental treatment.

Panoramic x-rays are another method that dentists use for diagnosing problems and planning treatment. Just like the pano image on your phone, panoramic x-rays give us a single continuous image of all your teeth and your jaws. 

This overview goes beyond helping us diagnose cavities or gum disease; it gives Dr. Kim a global view of your head and neck to look for abnormalities like tumors or cysts, diagnose TMJ problems, find impacted wisdom teeth, and plan orthodontic treatment.

Dentists use different types of digital x-rays depending on your needs and the treatment they’re planning. The 3-D scans made using cone beam imaging technology go beyond what we can see with routine x-rays.

Cone beam technology (CBT) shows Dr. Kim your entire dental anatomy, as well as anatomical structures, like sinuses and nerve pathways. This allows him to be extremely precise and accurate when planning procedures like dental implant placement that require a great degree of precision.

Your dental health shouldn’t be a mystery, and with intraoral cameras, it doesn’t have to be. When our dentist uses these tiny digital cameras as part of your dental exam, you become a part of the process. As the images appear on your chairside monitor, Dr. Kim will explain what you see, and you’ll become an active player in your own dental care.

Now, instead of being told you have a cavity, you can see the dark spot on your tooth and understand why we recommend a tooth filling. We can also save still images of your dental exam so that they are always readily available for reference.

If you have ever had a root canal using traditional manual instruments, you won’t believe the difference that rotary endodontic technology will make! Until recently, dentists needed to use a series of manual steel files to meticulously clear away infected tissue during a root canal. This was time-consuming, and sometimes the sensations were unpleasant for the patient.

Instead, the nickel-titanium tip used with rotary endodontics curves to fit deep inside the root canals to eliminate every trace of infection. Root canals using rotary endodontics are more comfortable and efficient, meaning less time in the dental chair for you. And because it allows us to be so meticulous, rotary endodontics help us produce more dependable long-term outcomes. 

With sedation dentistry, including nitrous oxide, there’s no reason ever to experience dental anxiety again. Also called laughing gas, nitrous oxide is a gas that’s mixed with oxygen and inhaled through a small face mask. As you breathe, you’ll feel a pleasant sensation of well-being and comfort that will last throughout your appointment.

When your procedure’s finished, we turn off the nitrous and switch the flow to pure oxygen. Inhaling oxygen for several minutes afterward helps any drowsy feelings subside so that when you leave us, you’ll feel refreshed and alert enough to drive yourself home safely.

Everything is digital these days, so it makes sense for us to make the switch from paper records to digital record-keeping. All your information is stored safely and securely on our in-house network and is instantly available to our dental team at the touch of a button.

Digital records are also useful for sharing your information with specialists and insurance companies as needed.

We understand that you’d rather be almost anyplace else but in the dental chair, and we’ve all been there! By offering TVs in all our treatment rooms, we provide you with some pleasant distraction and an escape from all the activity around you.