Think of the digital revolution, and what comes to mind? Probably easy access to the internet and a global wealth of information. But dentistry? Probably not.
Yet digital innovation is changing the way dentists practice and improving the way patients get care.
At Nobel Dentistry in Los Angeles, California, Abraham Nobel, DDS, and our team use digital dentistry to provide you with the most accurate diagnoses and the most advanced treatments, so you can reduce your oral health risks and enjoy a lifetime of healthy smiles. Here’s how it works.
Digital dentistry involves the use of technology to examine, diagnose, and treat a wide range of oral health issues, including preventive care, restorative treatment, and cosmetic treatment.
It’s faster, less costly, and more eco-friendly than traditional approaches to dentistry, resulting in more effective treatment and better long-term outcomes.
At Nobel Dentistry, we use digital technology in different ways to create custom care plans based on the unique needs, health risks, and goals of every individual patient.
You probably have vivid memories of those tiny, round mirrors dentists use to examine the hard-to-see parts of teeth. In digital dentistry, small intraoral cameras take the place of those mirrors, providing far clearer images and more detailed information about your teeth than a tiny mirror ever could.
Intraoral scanners transmit live images of your teeth to a screen for better viewing. Those images are dramatically enlarged and magnified, so they can show even minute defects in your tooth.
That allows Dr. Nobel to prescribe treatment that can prevent tiny issues from becoming bigger and more serious.
Scanners are able to take very precise measurements of your teeth, avoiding the need for sticky, messy impressions. Exact measurements help ensure a more precise, comfortable fit for dentures, crowns, and other restorations.
The video screen also enables Dr. Nobel to show you what he’s seeing, so he can describe why he recommends a specific treatment for you. Plus, scanning is fast and completely painless.
Like intraoral scanning, digital X-rays are a lot faster to perform and provide considerably more detail than traditional film X-rays. Patients find the experience more comfortable, too.
Digital X-rays don’t require film processing, so we can view and evaluate them immediately. And digital X-rays result in far less exposure to radiation compared to traditional X-rays, which use about twice as much radiation as digital radiographs.
Since they’re stored on a computer, we can share digital X-rays with other specialists or with lab technicians charged with making crowns, bridges, dentures, or implants. We can also easily archive them for ongoing monitoring of your oral health.
Digital technology offers lots of advantages for patients (and for dentists, too). But it’s important not to overlook the eco-friendly benefits they offer.
With digital technology, we store your exam records on a computer, not in files filled with resource-intensive paper and photographic film. And because images are created using digital technology, there’s no need for photo-processing chemicals, either.
By eliminating the need for plaster impressions, intraoral scanners keep the old molds and excess materials out of the landfill. And when it’s time to update your X-rays with new images, the old ones can simply be archived in the cloud, without taking up space or going into a landfill.
At Nobel Dentistry, we work hard to identify new approaches to care aimed at helping our patients enjoy the best possible oral health at every age. To learn more about digital dentistry and other state-of-the-art treatment options we offer, call or book an appointment online today.
