The field of dentistry is advancing, and brand-new dental technology is playing a significant role in this advancement. In the most recent few years, innovative technologies have become their own and have greatly influenced the methods dentists use in their clinics worldwide. In today’s post, we’ll examine how modern dental technology alters how dental practitioners care for their patients.
Dental Technology is Evolving & Patients are Treated Right!
Future dentistry will have no drills, no injections, easier access, and faster treatment time. Greater emphasis on prevention will lead to fewer cavities and periodontal disease. Below are a few technological advancements we are discussing today.
Advanced Dentistry
Technological innovation will enhance and extend access to dental care, providing same-day care and fewer office visits, making a healthy smile more affordable.
Your age, medical and dental health history, and genome can help dentists determine your oral disease risk. Physicians and dentists will adapt therapy to your DNA, using what works best for your genome and physiology. They may select how to treat you based on causative germs.
Digital imaging is changing. A toothbrush-sized gadget produces pulsating red laser light during a 3-second scan to identify fractures and cavities. This is called “S-Ray” and it maps teeth and gums in 3-D to detect cavities and illness. After FDA approval, S-Rays may be cheaper than X-Rays!
New Era in Diagnostic & Clinical Management
These days, lasers are employed not only for therapy but also for diagnostics. Today, dentists do minor gum surgery with “soft tissue lasers,” but in the future, they may be able to outsource such tasks to computers. Tooth decay may be removed with small, digitally controlled mirrors and “hard-tissue lasers” and replace noisy high-speed dental drills. The high cost of these gadgets prevents their widespread use at present.
Biomaterials, the result of recent advances, can now be used to repair tooth decay. For instance, a collaborative effort between Harvard and the University of Nottingham has resulted in the development of a synthetic biomaterial that may facilitate the natural healing of cavities, thereby decreasing the prevalence of tooth decay and the subsequent need for painful and expensive root canal therapy.
3D Bioprinting
Despite these improvements, it may still be necessary to have a tooth, or teeth, replaced using a cap, crown, or bridge. With today’s technology, a tooth may be created from a 3-D image using CAD/CAM. There is now a flurry of a study aiming toward the Holy Grail of 3-D printing. A team from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands is among those exploring formulas that would allow for incorporating chemicals that would prevent tooth decay into 3-D printed teeth.
Prevention Enhancements
Several recent advancements in dental treatment have focused on preventing cavities before they start. Toothbrushes, for instance, are now being designed with various gadgets, such as cameras and location tracking technology, to show you the areas of your mouth that you aren’t brushing enough. A timer keeps track of how long you brush and sync with apps to keep you entertained for the two minutes you’re supposed to brush and pressure sensors to warn if you’re brushing too hard. Other creative thinkers are working on developing sensors that can monitor heart rate and identify blood alcohol levels — even smell foul breath — from samples of saliva or oral tissue. A pH-detecting mouthpiece might prevent the need to send a sample to the lab, wait for findings, or pay exorbitant costs by identifying acidic saliva, a risk factor for dental decay and gum disease. Diagnosing diabetes, which is dangerous on its own but also makes gum disease worse, by testing for chemicals in breath might be a game changer.
Applying VR Technology to the Dental Field
To fully experience the virtual reality (VR) setting, the user must wear a special headgear that blocks out all other stimuli. Dental students and future dentists may learn the procedures without ever leaving the couch by wearing one of these headsets. While patients can ease their anxiety by imagining a soothing scene as they wait for their turn in the dentist’s chair.
It is difficult to study the ins and outs of a profession when only a select few trainees are allowed to peer over the surgeon’s shoulder. Surgeons may broadcast their procedures to the world and bring medical students into the operating room by employing a virtual reality camera and VR gear. The area of dentistry has been particularly quick to adopt this technique.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the future of dentistry looks very promising. With new technology, patients will be able to experience less pain, shorter treatment times, and easier access to care. It is an exciting time for dentistry, and we can only imagine what the future holds!