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Archive for the ‘Laser dentistry’ Category
Injex – Needle-free injection system now available
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012The Australian Dental Expo was at Darling Harbour on the weekend at the Sydney Convention Centre. All the latest equipment for dentists and dental technicians was on show. Most of it was pretty ordinary but I had been hearing of a needle-free injection system that was going to be on display. I went searching and what I found was very interesting.
The system really didn’t have a needle in a conventional sense. It consisted of a spring-loaded cartridge that delivered a measured dose of anaesthetic directly into the submucosa and onto the periosteum (which means right up against the bone) so that it starts acting within seconds. It works much more quickly than a normal infiltration and there’s no pain!
Do you feel anything? Yes, you feel slight pressure when you hear a ‘pop’ but then it starts feeling numb immediately. I was very impressed. For patients that are needle phobic it is going to make a big difference and for kids it is perfect! While it can’t be given everywhere in the mouth or for all teeth in adults, we can use it everywhere in kids. The dose is so much smaller, works so much quicker and numbness of the soft tissues does not last as long.
Well, we’ve got it in the office prepped and ready to go when it’s needed. I don’t think that it will be long before patients hear about the system and start asking for it. When combined with the dental laser, I suspect that many more fillings will be both drill-free and needle-free and that can only mean happier patients.
What is it you really want?
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011So many times we hear patients say that they only go to the dentist when they are in pain. And when the patient has a really sore tooth, all we can do is relieve their pain. We call this Emergency Dentistry. But is this really what the patient wants?
Sometimes it is but I think for others the questions is really,” Can you make sure that this does not happen to any of my other teeth?” or “Can you fix this tooth so I never have to think about it again?”.
If we know this we can put together a maintenance program with periodic recare appointments to ensure teeth are attended to when the issues are minor. Or we could repair the tooth in a porcelain material so that it not only restores the tooth, but also protects it during chewing and it will last a long time as the material is so strong.
When a patient is in pain, they just can’t verbalise what they really want. All their thinking is clouded by a red mask of pain. But extracting a painful tooth then means an empty space where the teeth was and a whole new set of questions about what to do with that space.
Likewise a patient does not come in thinking they really need to have a bridge, or a denture, a Snap-On Smile or an Implant. What they would really like is to be able to smile again and be able to chew their food without it hurting their gums.
I rarely have a patient come in saying they want veneers. What they ask for is whiter teeth, or a nicer smile or a different shape to their teeth. If I just made them veneers, I might make them something they like, but the end result may not be ideal.
It sometimes happens that the solution for their problem is completely different to what they might think. For example, if a patient has wants longer teeth, it might be as simple as a laser gum lift, it may be inclining the teeth forward with Invisalign, or even extruding the teeth with implants!
That is the wonderful thing about modern dentistry. There are now so many options to achieve the end result. More than ever it is important that we as dentists ask the right questions, and you as patients think about what it is you really want, and how much it is worth to you.
At Cosmic Smile Dental, we offer a complimentary smile consultation so you can tell us your concerns and we have an understanding of your dental values. We’ll show you some of the ways that we can get there and together we can decide how quickly we can make your goal a reality. Just make sure you think about what it is you really want =)
How long will your fillings last?
Thursday, June 16th, 2011Dental restorations or fillings are living in a very harsh environment. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, “The mouth is on a slippery downhill slide, the best that we can hope for is to make sure that it is not always slippery and that the slope is not steep.”
What this means is that although we might call a filling ‘Permanent’ it does not mean ‘lifelong’. Fillings are going to need to be replaced so matter how well they are done. Patients will chew on hard nuts and ice, they clench when they are stressed or just don’t take sufficient care of them. This means it is just a question of when they will fail.
Nowadays, the modern materials and cements are so strong that if things fail very soon after they are placed that it is usually our fault. Maybe the material was mixed wrong or you licked the tooth when we weren’t looking or we were just having a bad day. It happens. And we’ll fix it. But that’s not what I’m talking about.
Nature takes about 9 years to build a tooth. Unfortunately, bacteria that have evolved for millions of years are also around our teeth, and together with foods and drink and the stresses of everyday life, teeth decay or erode or crack. Many different materials have been used to restore teeth but let’s just call them white fillings (composite resin), silver fillings (amalgam) and porcelain fillings.
Studies have shown that a large white filling in a premolar has an 84% chance of surviving 12 years compared with about 75% chance for an amalgam filling. This is even higher in people considered to have a low caries risk. Porcelain restorations survived best of all and can last 20 years or more.
However, if we looked at fractured or cracked teeth there are between 5x to 50x more chance of an amalgam restoration being the cause versus a composite resin. The main reason is that teeth had to be prepared significantly more in the past when undercuts were required to retain the silver fillings.
For silver fillings, this is known as the Molar Life Cycle or the Circle of Death whereby a small filling –> medium filling –> large filling –> cracked tooth –> rebuilt tooth –> root treated tooth with post and crown –> extraction.
What this means is that because of the materials and equipment like the Diagnodent and dental laser, we can pick up fillings sooner, treat them earlier and more conservatively with composite or porcelain, meaning not only a longer life cycle for the filling but also your tooth. And surprisingly that also helps your hip pocket in the long run too.
So don’t be afraid to come in a have a checkup, even if it’s been a while. We are a Guilt-free office and we won’t give you a lecture. Take a look our Galleries to see what can be done with modern materials. You’ll be glad you did and you’ll be able to keep those pearly whites for a long time to come.
Dental laser makes complex dentistry easy
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011I really love my dental laser. I honestly could not practice dentistry without it any more. It is every bit as important as my dental drill but much more versatile. The Hoya Versawave dental laser that I have is classed as a hard and soft tissue dental laser which means that I can remove decayed dental tissue from teeth, remove excess bone but also cut gum tissue with minimal trauma and extremely fast healing times.
In the last few days, I’ve used the dental laser for just about everything that it can do. I used the dental laser to irrigate and clean a root canal system for a one-visit endodontic treatment, for cutting back gums before placement of a dental crown, did gum surgery to remove a sliver of broken tooth, performed several laser tongue tie surgeries on children from 13 days to 6 months old, used the dental laser to treat a cold sore, and also used the dental laser to recontour bone before denture placement having previously removed tissue folds that prevented a denture from being placed at all! Whew!
About the only two things I did not do this week was a gum lift for a gummy smile or remove a growth around the mouth. Here is a list of some of the benefits that laser dentistry has over conventional dentistry:
Benefits of Laser Dentistry
- • Laser dentistry means the patient is more comfortable and does not feel the pressure of the dental drill and does not hear the typical whine
- • Laser dentistry means less anaesthetic is required and sometimes none at all
- • Laser dentistry allows for selective removal of decayed dental tissues meaning more conservative, minimally invasive dental treatment
- • Laser dentistry means less bleeding and less swelling because the ‘laser’ would is sterile and cauterised
- • Laser dentistry means quicker healing because there is less tissue traumatised by the dental procedure
So, you can see why I love the dental laser and use it everyday. But more importantly, you can see why my patients love the laser and ask for it when they come in. If you need some dental treatment, chances are you will get to the dental laser experience. Give us a call on 9904 2880 and we can arrange a consultation.
Dr Jason Pang is a laser dentist in Neutral Bay, Sydney.