This week was an amazing week at Asheville Dental Care. We received some advanced training on implants and the use of our new 3D cone beam x-ray machine, and were able to care for a patient for whom this new technology made an important difference.
First, the Division Leader for the East Coast Region of Sirona Dental, made a special trip to our office and spent the day doing hands-on, personal training with each member of our team. We spent hours learning the incredible capability of our 3-D Cone Beam x-ray machine and just how advanced and superior this technology is in terms of providing exceptional patient care.
In addition, to learning the conventional capabilities of this new machine, we received specific training on advancements in implant dentistry. We studied a technique that would allow us to literally plan and design an implant at the same time we identify a patient is going to lose a tooth. Now, because of this new technology, before we extract the tooth, we can literally take an x-ray, with our 3D imagining machine, and then integrate that with pictures of the patient’s tooth and our CEREC machine.
Combining these two revolutionary technologies means that a few days later, when we actually extract the patient’s tooth, we can place the implant and the crown or temporary crown immediately. This means our patients leave our office with a tooth in place, and they do not have to experience the discomfort or embarrassment of having a missing tooth.
The 3-D Cone Beam x-ray machine provides us with so much more information and knowledge than conventional x-ray machines. This knowledge means we can design a much better dental implant and, the placing of each implant becomes a much more precise and easy process.
This same week, a new patient walked through our doors that happened to be the perfect candidate for this new technology. He was complaining of pain in his upper front tooth, so we took a 3D image of the tooth. And, from this x-ray, we could easily determine that the root of the tooth was broken in half. Ironically, the patient had previously gone to a dentist, who had x-rayed the tooth using conventional technology that did not detect the fracture in the root. We were then able to use that same cone beam image to create a surgical guide, a map so to speak, that would allow us to see just how to design and where best to place the implant. In a few days, when we extract his tooth, because of this new technology, we will be able to place his implant and a temporary crown immediately, and the patient will be able to walk out of our office, the same day, with a beautiful smile.
Yes, it was an amazing week at Asheville Dental Care. This is a very exciting time to be in dentistry!
