How Dental Technology Can Improve Your Oral Health

Dental technology has changed to help your dentist manage pain and inform treatment options. Here, our Village Orthodontics orthodontists explain some of the technological tools we use in dental procedures.

What is dental technology?

When you visit your orthodontist’s office, you might notice that dental technology, tools, and treatment have changed since you were a kid. A range of technologies now helps orthodontists detect and treat many dental issues.

Digital Dental Impressions

If you’ve ever had to get braces, a retainer, an implant, a mouth guard, or other appliance, you've no doubt dreaded the feeling of that U-shaped tray in your mouth, filled with the alginate or polyvinyl siloxane that's required to make an accurate mould of your teeth.

But with digital dental impressions, we do away with the goop in favour of using optical scanning devices to create virtual, computer-generated models of your mouth's hard and soft tissues. These devices capture accurate data in just minutes - without the mess.

Digital Dental X-rays

Your orthodontist will occasionally place a large camera on the side of your head, take a picture, and examine the negatives of your teeth. To capture images, we now use digital sensors rather than traditional photographic X-ray film. This means fewer retakes and more detailed computer images of your gums, teeth, and other oral structures.

Digital dental X-rays allow your orthodontist to get clear images of your teeth, so your orthodontist can make a diagnosis.

Panoramic X-rays

Unlike traditional X-rays, which produce multiple images of your mouth, panoramic dental X-rays produce a single image of your entire mouth. This image depicts your teeth, upper and lower jaws, temporomandibular joints (TMJ), nasal and sinus cavities, and nasal and sinus cavities.

This gives the orthodontist a flat representation of your jaw’s curved structure and allows us to analyze each part of your mouth in relation to the whole.

Dental Lasers

Lasers use light to deliver energy. Soft tissue lasers are used in a variety of gum-related treatments, including the treatment of canker sores and gum disease, as well as biopsies.

Dental lasers can reduce your risk of infection, potentially shorten your healing time thanks to less damage to the gums, and result in less blood loss than traditional dental surgery.

Oral ID

Cancerous and pre-cancerous lesions in the mouth are difficult to detect with the naked eye. This minimally invasive device detects oral cancer using fluorescence visualization technology.

iTero Intraoral Scanner

Have you ever dreaded having to hold your mouth open in an awkward position while the orthodontist takes the necessary images? When we scan your mouth with an iTero intraoral digital scanner, that discomfort may be gone. This device allows us to capture three-dimensional dental images in a matter of minutes.

Sleep Technologies

Have you been told you have sleep apnea? We use technology to determine if you require oral appliance treatment. Technology can be used to make dental procedures run more smoothly and comfortably for patients.

To learn more about the dental technology offered at Village Orthodontics, schedule your appointment at Village Orthodontics today. Or find a location near you.