While you are with us, sit back and enjoy the ambiance of our fireplace. We are baking and serving fresh cookies all day long. Bottled water is also available.
Diagnodent Cavity Detection System - In the past, the traditional technique of detecting decay on the chewing surface of a tooth has been to poke with the old-fashioned Dental Explorer. A “stick” would indicate a cavity and would need to be filled. Unfortunately, cavity detection is not as black and white. The challenge comes in detecting “early” or “hidden” decay.
Fluoride is wonderful to prevent decay. However, fluoride can harden the outer shell of enamel making a small pin-point hole in the tooth harder to detect. By the time the Dental Explorer picks up a “stick”, the cavity can be quite large. The earlier a cavity is detected the more conservative and smaller the filling can be. This is where the Diagnodent improves the cavity detection process. This is a quick and painless procedure where a very intense thin light beam (a non-cutting laser) is directed from a wand at the chewing surface of the tooth. The more bacteria (decay) present, the more light is reflected back and measured numerically by the Diagnodent. This allows for easier and earlier cavity detection.
The Wand™ - The mere sight of a dental syringe and the thought of having an injection by the dentist can easily make most patients wish they were someplace else. For patients, this fear can be costly. Both from a health and financial direction, a delay of treatment can lead to interruptions in our daily schedules, possible large financial outlays, loss of teeth and just plain embarrassment. But good news may have arrived to benefit patients and surprisingly their dentists providing a more pleasant dental experience.
A revolutionary new device was introduced to the dental profession in December of 1997 called the Wand™. The heart of this device is an on-board microprocessor, which guides the anesthetic flow rate. The microprocessor inside the Wand automatically compensates for different tissue densities and the anesthetic itself is delivered at a constant pressure and volume so that the injection itself is hardly felt. The unit additionally provides a flow of anesthetic directly ahead of the needle creating a "pathway of anesthesia" to further decrease the uncomfortable feeling usually associated with a dental injection. The source of discomfort for most injections, isn't the needle-it's the flow of anesthetic into the tissue in your mouth. The Wand™ allows for an optimal flow rate every single time so that the injection process can be more comfortable.
Patient reactions in our office are highly favorable to the new unit and many of our patient's are actually asking for it over the conventional dental syringe delivery system. Patient's having had an injection with the Wand™ have had a quicker on-set of anesthesia, a more profound and surprising shorter lasting feeling, which means that for a typical procedure, you get numb faster, better and that uncomfortable numbness that you might have for hours, seems to disappear faster. Even better news for the upper front teeth-the Wand™ has made this even easier to numb up the front upper teeth - one injection in your upper jaw not only gets you numb, but without the facial numbness that prevents you from speaking comfortably.
Our patient's positive comments will hopefully flow to everyone, and those that have given up on coming to the dentist because of the needle, can look happily to having an injection by using the Wand™.