Absolutely not. It actually SAVES you time and money. I know that may be hard to believe, but let me explain…
The technology inside Pike Lake Dental Center has changed over the years. We aren’t the same dental office Dr. Matt purchased back in 1999. We’ve slowly built our practice around technology, making us more efficient with our time and our finances.
Our first big investment after we moved into our new office was upgrading to digital x rays. Moving away from film was a big and necessary leap in updating our technology in 2008. The lead aprons we’d drape across you before taking an x ray are gone. Digital x rays produce much less radiation, are available immediately and are stored more efficiently. Just this one transition has made our office more cost effective and is a better alternative for the environment.
No more gooey impressions? They are almost entirely a thing of the past. We began taking digital impressions in 2007. This technology has changed over the years and we’ve upgraded our equipment as needed. Today, with this special camera that takes thousands of photographs per second, we are able to accurately build an impression of a patient’s tooth, or even their full mouth, in minutes. The models are then transferrable to our machine that builds crowns and bridges. The digital files are also shareable with companies like Invisalign for treatment plans.
Dr. Matt saw the future in dentistry through dental implants many years ago. He took a multi-week course in New Jersey in 2013 to learn more about dental implants. At that time, this new way of restoring teeth was exciting and different and mostly done by specialists. Not a lot of general dentists were learning about dental implants in 2013. Times are changing and you’ll find many general dentists placing implants today. Years ago, replacing a missing tooth typically meant a bridge. A bridge usually caps the healthy teeth on either side of a missing tooth. Today we can build you a new tooth in the place of your missing tooth while keeping the integrity of the teeth around it. That’s crazy cool!
Single-visit crowns? That’s got to be expensive! Actually, they cost a fraction of the amount lab-crafted crown cost to make, therefore we are able to keep the price of our crowns lower. When we purchased this CEREC machine to make crowns in our office in 2013, we were looking to accomplish a few things: save our patients time, cut down on our lab bills and jump in with the latest technology. This machine has paid for itself (and then some) in lab fees. Plus, it saves both our patients and our staff time by making strong and beautiful crowns in one visit. It’s a win-win!
Going paperless was a scary idea, but we made the jump in 2015. We no longer keep each patient’s chart and x rays in a file folder. A patient’s chart is now accessible from any of our work stations in the office. X rays are easily found, sorted, and stored for each patient. Notes are taken on the computers in the operatories. Treatment plans are entered electronically. Insurances are also billed electronically. All of these advancements has saved us vast amounts of supplies, time and storage space.
One of our biggest investments is the 3D scanner we purchased in 2016. Over the years, we slowly upgraded our older panorex machines into this state-of-the-art unit. The images we can capture from this scanner can be as simple as bitewing x rays and as complex as airway scans to determine if a patient may suffer from sleep apnea.
No more wondering what’s inside that head of yours. We can show you! Here’s one view of Dr. Matt’s 3D scan.
Why would you seek care from a doctor who practices dentistry from the 1980s if, for the same fees, you could see a dentist with the latest technology?
Just because dental technology is advanced doesn’t mean it will cost YOU more. It can actually save you time and money.
Written and submitted by Stephanie Jugovich.