Check out my top 5 dental innovations below… and I will have more to come in future post!
1 – Laser Therapies
It is very significant that we are now able to harness light to treat disease. One of the most important procedures is to treat gum disease. The laser beam kills bacteria in the gums and promotes healing of the tissues. The use of lasers has greatly reduced the need for antibiotics to treat gum disease. This is great because of the ever-present threat of “superbugs” and drug-resistant bacteria that antibiotic therapies may contribute to. Our hygienists and I are certified to use lasers to treat gum issues, tooth sensitivity, cold sores, canker sores, tissue tags and small lesions.
2 – Advanced Whitening
KÖR Whitening was developed by Dr. Rod Kurthy and is a wonderful and predictable whitening system. We have been able to produce beautiful, brighter, whiter smiles in our office for dark brown, yellow, dull and even tetracycline-stained teeth. We have been using this product for several months and many hard-to-whiten teeth are now their very whitest, and the smiles look natural and youthful. Another option is Zoom Whitening. It is a very effective whitening program for spa whitening in one visit.
3 – CEREC Same-Day Crowns
Our patients love this system for their crowns!Within three hours you are able to have a crown made from start to finish. The tooth is prepared for the crown by scanning the prepped tooth with the high-tech CEREC camera and designed with 3-D imaging software. The image is sent wirelessly to the milling unit where a sterile, very strong block of porcelain is milled into a crown that fits the prepared tooth perfectly and is then baked in a high-temperature oven for maximum strength. The convenience to the patient is one appointment (not two that are weeks apart), no goopy impressions, no temporary crowns to contend with and only one time being numb.
4 – Minimum-Prepared Veneers
You can now have strong, beautiful porcelain veneers that are contact lens thin and able to be placed right over your existing enamel.In most cases, only sharp angles of enamel are smoothed away and you may not even need to be numb. You keep your existing teeth! I have mastered this technique and work closely with our lab to develop results that will give you the smile of your dreams – white, straight, and perfectly-shaped teeth that match your face and personality. One of our hygienists and I have chosen this thin veneering for our lovely smiles too.
5 – Pain-Free Dentistry
We estimate that about 25 percent of our patients have some degree of difficulty getting numb or staying numb. As a result, these patients have a great fear of having dental work. I have studied this problem extensively and follow a specialized sequence that produces a profound, completely numb and pain-free dental experience. I have this condition as well and I listen very carefully to my patients that have difficulty getting numb and work diligently to achieve total anesthesia for all of our patients.
If you have any questions about the above innovations or any others please call the office of Susan Dennis, D.D.S. at 269.216.9621. We have many more FAVORITE Dental Innovations including Smile Makeovers, Dental Implants, Invisalign Scanning, Cosmetic Dentures and Gum Recession Therapies.