Advancements in dental technology continue to arrive every year. Many of these are directly beneficial to the patient experience and lead to less invasive and less time-consuming procedures. As a result, caring for your oral health is becoming easier, and the detection of issues can happen long before severity sets in.
Here are some of the technology advancements dental offices are using today to ensure the best dental care for you and your family members.
The Rise of Smart Toothbrushes
Smart technology is on the rise and no longer relegated to cell phones and home security systems. Instead, it is making its way more and more into daily life, including providing ways to more efficiently practice good oral hygiene, like with smart toothbrushes.
Smart toothbrushes include sensors that monitor your actions and feed this information to a companion application. In return, you get real-time feedback on your brushing style and whether it is efficient. It can also alert you to spots you miss and if you’re brushing too hard.
Many of these toothbrushes already offer games and fun activities to entice children to brush more. These features teach the best methods that can lead to a life-long habit of caring for your dental health.
New Ways to Use Laser Technology
Laser technology isn’t a new concept, but new uses for it are being discovered every year.
Dental patients, in particular, can benefit from laser technology. Its use in procedures can lower anxiety levels, reduce the need to use drills or needles, and make these procedures less invasive overall.
At Smile Hilliard, for example, a specialized soft-tissue laser is used to treat various gum (periodontal) ailments, eliminating the need for blades and sutures.
The benefits of such a laser are that it can produce less discomfort, swelling, bleeding, and pain, and also promote faster healing.
Other soft-tissue laser treatments address gumline reshaping, lesion removal, and even help treat roots during root canal procedures.
The Advent of the Intraoral Camera
Advanced technology is leading to improvements in the way dentists examine a patient’s teeth and gums, making the experience more comfortable and less time-consuming. The intraoral camera, in particular, is helping with this and also allowing dentists to make much quicker diagnoses.
An intraoral camera is a pen-like device with an internal light that a dentist slowly moves around inside the patient’s mouth, capturing instant images of teeth and gums. These highly detailed images are automatically projected onto a computer screen nearby for close review.
Another benefit of the intraoral camera is the ability to share the images directly with patients. Dentists, like those at Smile Hilliard, use these images to better explain issues and involve patients in the treatment decision-making process.
Advancements in Dental Software
Digitization is commonplace today, and advancements in dental software are making the plight of dental office administration and patient care more efficient. Instead of logging in to several different systems to schedule appointments, establish billing, and access a patient’s medical history, today’s advancements in integrated software solutions are saving both dentists and patients valuable time.
These new software solutions are streamlining workflows, improving communications, and facilitating a faster determination of dental benefits. As a result, dental offices are more efficient, and patients are less overwhelmed with paperwork. For instance, Smile Hilliard uses advanced software in a way that makes us more accurate, decreases balance billing, and maximizes a patient’s dental policy benefits whenever possible.
Introduction of AI-Diagnostic Tools
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is increasingly making its way into dentistry in highly beneficial ways today. With the introduction of AI-generated diagnostic tools, patients are becoming aware of oral health conditions sooner. These tools can also design better treatment plans in increasingly less time.
One way, in particular, that these tools are helping is in the earlier detection of oral cancers, determining whether lesions are benign or malignant. As a result, responses and treatments can occur quicker.
While these five advancements in dental technology are not the only ones new in dentistry today, they are some of the most popular and beneficial to the patient experience. As capabilities continue to advance, patients will benefit in additional ways, making dental care more accessible to all.
Contact Smile Hilliard for Solutions to All Your Dental Health Needs
Here at the dental office of Smile Hilliard, our team strives to treat each patient with the most beneficial technology available. Whatever you are experiencing, we can help. Contact our dental office today to schedule an appointment for a cleaning, exam, or consultation.
