Is there such thing as a painless dental experience?
A new generation of professionals using cutting edge technology promises a very different — but not entirely painless — experience than perhaps other generations may remember from their time in the chair.
The American Dental Association reports the number of new dentists (those with less than 10 years of experience) is on the rise. The most recent 2013 statistics show there are 234 "new" dentists in the Lower Hudson Valley.
“The numbers of dentists is increasing steadily in the past five years in suburban areas,” says Dr. Craig Ratner, chairman of the ADA Task Force on Technology and New York State Dental Association Delegate. “And these dentists are using more digital technology for diagnosis and planning.”
With dental school graduations expected to surpass dentist retirements, there's a pretty good chance you'll be seeing a younger dentists like Dwayne Bodie.
Step into his Nyack office and you aren’t quite sure it is a doctor’s office. The waiting room has a 90-gallon saltwater fish tank with tropical fish, fresh coffee brewing and a welcoming smile from Michelle behind the cozy reception desk. It doesn’t even smell like a doctor’s office. That’s because a fragrance is pumped as part of the calming process.
”For a lot of phobic patients, the fear is heightened by the smell of a dentist’s office,” says Bodie, who is 36. “We know the perception of dentists and we try to counter it.”
Beyond the cosmetic details, once you're in the chair you’ll notice things are different, too. There’s a 32-inch monitor in the room and a hi-resolution camera attached to the dentist’s instrument so you can see what’s going on in your mouth. Lean back and you’ll notice the dentist chair is a massage chair, which helps make the experience a little more relaxed.
“It’s a combination of technology and chair-side manner that was stressed in school,” Bodie says.
New technology, new mindset
Millennial dentists like Bodie are bringing a new mindset to patient care, using digital x-rays and the latest in digital imaging to make dental visits smoother and faster. Some are using CAD computer-aided design to create dental prostheses including crowns that are made same day in the office and are more precise and look and fit better.
Bodie graduated from Rutgers Dental in 2006 where students learned about using laser technology to help diagnose cavities at an early stage and electric drills that are more powerful and quieter to do his dental work, both of which he uses in his Nyack practice.
“It’s less intimidating now,” says Mary E. White, one of Bodie's patients. “You don’t hear the noise of the drill, a lot of it is computerized and less painful.”
White, 54 remembers how it used to be. “I would be very critical of someone who doesn’t use this technology. I know it may be expensive, but considering the time management and comfort of the patient, it’s worth the cost.”
Jacob Wallach graduated in 2007 from Stony Brook University Dental School and took over a Nyack practice in 2011. Wallach, 35, says the new technology available to his patients have improved care. ”Now we have the diagnostics to catch things early and then to track them.”
New tools include intraoral cameras with LED lighting that can distinguish how much tooth decay is present and newer stronger ceramic materials that make getting a filling and saving a tooth easier. Remember biting down on a hard gauze and holding it in different parts of your mouth for X-rays? Wallach's digital system is hooked up to a computer allowing him to take a panoramic shot of your whole mouth.
”I can see what you see and explain in layman’s terms,” he says. Dental 3-D scanners similar to a CT scan can help treat TMJ, root canals and implants . There’s less time wasted developing X-rays and the newer digital ones use less radiation, he says.
That’s good news for Wallach's patients like James Stewart: he’s had six root canals, eight caps plus a few tooth extractions. “I’ve been to so many dentists,” says Stewart, 31, ”It's great to go to a dentist who makes the whole process easier.”
It's no surprise that a generation raised on technology expects to see innovation in the dentist chair, and professionals like Bodie and Wallach are providing just that. “It makes it much easier to go to the dentist than in the old days,” Stewart says.
All this doesn't come without a cost. With more sophisticated technology, there’s a substantial financial investment in launching a practice. “The costs can escalate depending on the equipment,” says the ADA's Ratner. Costs range from $190,000 to $290,000 including the basic in new tech, the digital x-ray; $5,000-$12,000 for more specialized CAD and 3D scanners which can head into the six figures.
For patients who still prefer the old-fashioned approach, Bodie's monitor comes in handy, he says. Instead of watching the play-by-play in their mouths, “they can watch TV,” he says. “And you get the remote.” Just make sure you ask for the massage chair.
Source: http://www.lohud.com/story/money/business/2015/09/17/bringing-tech-teeth/71936816/
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