Many people skip the dentist. Not because they don’t care about their teeth, but because they still associate regular checkups with negative aspects of their past dental experiences. Whether it was the frightening impression of putty in their mouths, the pain they were told was simply part of the process, or the lack of education on which procedures were right for their needs, many people would benefit immensely from seeing the dentist regularly again. The value of new technology in dental practices is not in how cool it looks or how state-of-the-art it is, but rather in what it can do for patients who are afraid to come in and take care of their teeth.
The putty tray problem is mostly solved
For many patients with dental anxiety, the thing they dread most about going to the dentist is the impression. Stuck with a glob of alginate in their mouths, patients who are already tense and frightened have to suffer through the gagging sensation and wait for the putty to set before any of their dentist’s work can even begin. It’s no surprise that many people are visibly thrilled to hear that the old method of impressions is being phased out in favor of intraoral scanning, in which a small wand is used to digitally capture a 3D image of the teeth in just a few minutes. This might seem like a small inconvenience, but it has major implications for patients’ behavior in relation to their treatment. If patients are more comfortable with the process, they are also much more likely to actually complete the treatment.
A Coventry dentist knows that having patients show up for the crown, the retainer check, or the follow-up scan is integral to actually restoring the patient’s oral health, not just prescribing a treatment that goes untouched for years.
Same-day restorations and vanishing “come back in two weeks”
The old process for getting a crown was cumbersome and time-consuming. The patient would have to get a temporary crown fitted before returning later for the permanent one, which in the meanwhile could irritate their gums or, in some cases, actually break off entirely. This gap in the middle of treatment was also an easy excuse for patients to procrastinate or entirely forget about the second session. However, with the advent of CAD/CAM systems and chairside milling, many dental practices can now complete a crown or onlay in one visit. The dentist scans the tooth, designs the restoration, and mills it to perfection in the same day, with no temporary crown and no second appointment. Obviously, this eliminates the opportunity for many patients to delay their full treatment and helps them stay on course to finish what they came in for.
Catching issues early with Cone Beam CT and AI
Cone beam CT scanners provide a 3D image of the roots, bones, and nerve endings in the patient’s mouth, with a much lower radiation dose than standard medical CT scanners. Combined with AI diagnostic software that can flag developing cavities or signs of periodontitis the naked eye might miss, this can help spot problems at an earlier and more treatable stage rather than waiting for the inevitable root canal or extraction.
This is especially valuable considering that as patients get older and their lifestyles change, the dentist has to adjust their recommended treatment plan accordingly. A patient’s jawbone will lose density as they age, medications will change their saliva production, and periodontitis that barely affected the gums in their thirties can leave the roots of the tooth completely exposed by their fifties. One scan can show you what’s going on now, but if you have a dentist who has your scans from years past, and who can see what’s been going on, they’ll have a much better idea of what to do about it.
Why the “dental home” still matters
Walk-in/dental urgent care facilities have their place. If you have an abscess or a broken tooth on a weekend, you want to get it dealt with ASAP. But if you have a dentist who has seen you for the past five or ten years, they know how your mouth looked before your recession started, they know your bite has been shifting slightly throughout the years, they know you haven’t been able to get yourself to the emergency dentist about that sensitive molar for three separate visits.
None of the technology previously mentioned negates the value of a long-term relationship with a dental practice. In fact, it enhances it, by providing the dentist with a full picture of what’s going on with the patient’s oral health. The value of having a dental home comes mostly from the fact that a dentist who knows you from years of regular visits can recognize trends and patterns in a way a new dentist couldn’t. The ability to recognize patterns is also why CBCT scans and AI-aided diagnostics are so valuable, especially when it comes to comparing notes year after year.
Closing the gap between patient visits
Electronic health records and patient portals help bridge the gap between patient visits, in terms of knowledge-sharing and continuity of care. A patient who can log in to their portal and see their x-rays, treatment plan, and upcoming procedures is a patient who has their finger on the pulse of their own oral health. They are also likely to bring up any questions they have, since they can see right on their screen what’s been recommended and what the options are.
The next step in this process is tele-dentistry. A picture sent through a portal by a nervous patient who doesn’t know if they should come right away or not may help the practice advise whether an in-person assessment is needed sooner. The ability to communicate and make decisions without coming to the office in person helps patients feel reassured about whatever course of treatment is happening. For the anxious patient, this is a huge factor in whether they come in at all. They don’t wait for their next regularly-scheduled cleaning, because making that appointment was three steps less of a hassle than calling about the pain in their wisdom tooth.
Comfort technology and the anxious patient
It’s estimated that roughly 75% of American adults experience anxiety when visiting the dentist, and 10% of the population has an outright phobia that keeps them away from the dental office entirely. The ADA puts special emphasis on how having anxiety-based vs need-based reasoning for visiting the dentist informs a patient’s decisions about oral healthcare.
Laser dentistry reduces bleeding and discomfort for soft-tissue procedures, guided implant surgery lets the dentist plan the surgery to the millimeter with 3D-printed guides before they even put the patient under, and modern sedation options can help some anxious patients feel more at ease during treatment. All of these technologies serve to make the day of the appointment itself less stressful, and help the anxious patient make it to their six-month checkup instead of waiting until the emergency room.
Informed patients are more likely to hold to their treatment plans
Technology only serves to aid patients in their treatment if they understand what they’re looking at. An intraoral camera showing a patient the hairline fracture in their molar can help them understand why treatment has been recommended rather than relying only on a verbal explanation, and a digital smile design can give them something to work towards with multi-visit treatment. The value of these specific pieces of technology is especially apparent when it comes to long-term treatment plans, since a visual representation of the end goal means a patient is more likely to stick to their plan when a necessary step falls two weeks after a vacation.
A treatment plan that’s owned by the patient is much more likely to be completed, since the patient had a say in it. But that’s a larger discussion for another time.
What to look for if your needs are changing
If you need to choose a new dentist, whether because you’ve moved, your dentist has retired, or you just need a higher level of care than they can provide, a few things stand out as red flags or as things to look for. Practices that have electronic records that travel with you from visit to visit, instead of keeping every file with the practice itself, offer more flexibility if you ever need to move or change providers. The same applies to practices that have on-site 3D imaging instead of referring patients out for CT scans or impressions each time they need one. Dentists who can complete crowns and other restorative procedures on the same day as the consultation, instead of waiting for the lab to fabricate a restoration, are also well-prepared to help patients who procrastinate to finish everything they came in for.
However, a practice’s willingness to openly talk about how their technology serves to help patients establish long-term care plans with them rather than jumping from one provider to the next is an indicator of a practice that values continuity of care, not just the novelty of having the technology itself.
Technology changes fast, but what a practice does with it should change slower. The value of these tools lies in their ability to help patients feel safe and comfortable over the course of their long-term dental relationships, not in being able to brag about how high-tech they are and get patients to sign up for the most expensive procedures just to use the technology. In a very real sense, that’s the ROI on all these new tools – a longer, more thorough, and more personalized relationship with the patient over their lifetime rather than a quick procedure and a quick exit.
