Technology is ever-evolving, giving us humans a reason to always want it and need it. Technology makes our jobs easier and even helps us do our job better than ever, so there is no doubt that dental offices can greatly benefit from updating their technology. Here are a few of the latest trends in dental technology that are worth keeping up with.
Dentists Are Going Digital
Not only are more and more dentists enforcing a paperless system of practice and patient management, but they are also using digital technology to aid in their procedures. More specifically, they are turning to 3D dental printers. These 3D dental printers enable dentists to create custom clear aligners, as well as veneers or crowns. Utilizing 3D printing helps cut production costs while also providing faster, yet high-quality service to your patients.
In line with turning to digital technology, many dentists are using intraoral scanners to complete dental impressions which are key to all major procedures. With this method, patients become far more comfortable and the process is much quicker, allowing dentists to move onto the more complex stages of certain treatments. Just because this scanner is quicker, though, does not mean anyone is sacrificing quality. As intraoral scanners are improved upon, they are able to provide precise measurements and shading to ensure each impression is as accurate as possible.
Dentists Are Becoming More Eco-Friendly
Ecofriendliness is a trend across many different industries, which is good because it means more people are doing their part in protecting our planet. Dentists can take advantage of this as well by incorporating more natural and eco-friendly dental products into their practice. Many dentists still give their patients a goody bag after their appointment. This bag usually has a new toothbrush, floss, and toothpaste. These can all be replaced for more environmentally conscious alternatives, which may be appealing for future patients.
Smartphones In The Workplace
Perhaps the emergence of smartphones has something to do with why technology is advancing quickly. Every day, more applications become available for smartphones, and websites become more mobile compatible. However, the applications you download do not have to be exclusive to your personal life.
OrthoPhoto Dentist App for iOS and Android
Envisioned by dentist Kathy Nguyen, OrthoPhoto App is a smartphone application for dentists that redefines how they take braces progress photos of their patients. Rather than relying on a specific braces camera, uploading the images, cropping them, placing them in a slide show, and manually sorting them into patient files, dentists can now take their patients’ clinical images right on their mobile phone.
The application automates this process. After dentists capture the relevant clinical photos, OrthoPhoto automatically places them into a template that organizes them in the correct format (crop, size, order) and places them in the designated patient file to help you save more time and become more efficient.
