Has dental technology advanced so far that a robot will be drilling and filling teeth? We don’t think so yet, as there would be multiple hurdles to overcome. However, we are seeing 3D printing making an impact on dentistry. That being said, we think this year has been the year of technology, even if on a smaller scale! There has been a huge increase in the use of apps like Zoom, and Teams to communicate with work colleagues, family and friends and this has continued past various lock-downs. We are proud of the technology we embrace at Adelaide City Dental Care to achieve optimal treatment outcomes.
- You would already be familiar with the digital x-rays we use. We place a phosphor-plate in a protective cover between your tongue and your teeth, expose it to the x-ray beam,
put the plate through a scanner that then digitises the image into your dental charts. With the x-ray program we can highlight an area we need to view darker or lighter, bigger or smaller to more accurately diagnose any issues. - Our intraoral camera enables us to take pictures of teeth to keep an eye on perhaps wear marks on your teeth, or stained grooves or tooth cracks to check if they change from visit to visit or to show you an issue that needs addressing. These photos become part of your permanent dental record.
- The soft tissue laser is used for removing bacteria in a gum pocket, removing soft tissue when required, whitening tooth enamel, decontaminating root canals, helping cold sores to heal faster and not reappear in that position, among other things.
We have technology for making dental crowns that protect and cover your teeth as well. You may be familiar with the intraoral scanner that we use to take a digital impression of your teeth. This scanner takes multiple pictures of your upper and lower teeth and gums and then knits them altogether into an image. This image we can then send to our local dental laboratory, Adelaide Laboratories, for their program to design the crown and then mill it out of zirconia in their Amanngirrbach milling machine.- For complete accuracy, the dentist may in some instances, take an impression as well. None of your crowns made here are sent overseas or interstate to be produced. They are all made locally at Adelaide Laboratories.
How beautiful Autumn is, the leaves are falling all around us and the mild weather is a lull before Winter hits. We have been grateful to have a little break last month and we are back into full swing this month. We have a new trainee dental assistant working with us, we firmly believe in teaching and this is an excellent opportunity to provide a careful introduction to dental care. Close contact situations and COVID precautions have made an impact on our staffing levels, so we are glad to have extra assistants around. I am sure many of you have experienced similar issues in your workplaces. This month we are refreshing our infection control practices at an infection control seminar on May 20th. If you require assistance on that day, Dr Stone will be available on her mobile. May 26th sees us updating our emergency medical incident management skills too. We take great pride in our continuing education to ensure the best possible care of each and every one of our patients.
See you in the clinic! The Adelaide City Dental Care Team.
PS: check out our socials (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) for top tips for teeth, mouth and gums and dental family snaps! Maybe even the latest video on YouTube.
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