Technology
The digital age has brought great change to healthcare with corresponding great benefit to patients.
Digital radiography has eliminated x-ray film and, with the help of the computer, allows manipulation and examination of the image to give us insights we have never had. At Centercare, we not only use this technology for 2-dimensional views, but we have the capability of creating 3-dimensionsional CT scans of the jaws and teeth as well. Patients enjoy a much greater level of diagnostic accuracy and safety for complex surgeries and other procedures.
Patient records are now fully digitized at Centercare. Data retrieval is efficient and communication with other providers is fast and thorough. The amount of information that can be stored and transmitted for our patients is unprecedented.
CAD/CAM technology has been used extensively in architecture and in industry for modeling and for creating objects. We now have this technology in dentistry for rebuilding damaged teeth. Formerly, crowns and onlays needed 2 dental visits because the fabrication required laboratory work. At Centercare we mill these restorations immediately in the office using a computerized robot. The entire crown procedure can be finished in a single appointment.
Lasers and radiosurgery instruments can be employed in dentistry for both diagnosis and for treatment. Centercare is fully equipped to bring this precision to patient care.
Drugs and materials in dental practice have also been improved by technology. Advances in pharmacology allow us to treat many conditions non-surgically that we couldn’t do until only recently. Zirconium, or industrial diamond, is now extensively used by Centercare in dental restorations. Patients have beauty and durability that wasn’t available just a few years ago. |