In a world that revolves around digital technology, where all the information that we need is at our finger tips, it is no real surprise that digital dentistry is becoming ever more common. As digital technology is a constant part of our everyday life, it makes perfect sense that patients in general are highly receptive to the use of digital technology and treatment techniques in a dental setting. At St Piran Dental, we embrace digital dentistry as it helps us to carry out many procedures more efficiently than with traditional tools, helping us to provide a higher standard of care for our patients.

What is Digital Dentistry?

The term digital dentistry relates to the use of a variety of digital technologies and devices to carry out dental procedures, as an alternative to using more traditional mechanical or electrical tools. There are now a number of digital technologies that are available to dentists:

• CAD/CAM and intraoral imaging
• Computer-aided implant dentistry for the design and fabrication of surgical guides
• Digital radiography
• Laser shade matching
• Photography – both extraoral and intraoral
• Occlusion and TMJ Diagnosis and analysis
• Caries diagnosis
• Digital practice and patient record management
• Digital patient education

Using digital dentistry techniques benefits our patients in a number of ways. Not only are we able to improve the efficiency and accuracy of dental procedures, but we also have a more accurate idea of the finished results of treatments as digital technology allows us a much higher level of predictability.

Digital Patient Education

As well as having a beneficial effect on our treatment methods, through the use of digital technologies and devices such as tablets, our patients are much more informed and receptive to different treatment methods, as we can explain all procedures visually through the use of digital aids.

In the 21^st century, patients expect to be educated about the different products, treatments and procedures on offer. Whilst in the past all information was given to patients through a discussion with a dentist, or through printed literature like leaflets and pamphlets, technology now allows us to use a number of different digital visual aids. Devices like tablets and other digital screens allow us to demonstrate treatments through a range of images, video links, web pages and PDFs.

As the human brain registers visual aids much quicker than words, digital aids can help us to ensure that patients fully understand their treatment plan and what it will involve. In most cases, a patient that is better educated is more likely to be open to a procedure. This allows us to provide the right care for our patients in a much reduced time, as we can show them visually during a consultation, rather than simply sending a patient home with a range of literature to take in.

Digital dentistry also allows patients to have more of a say in their treatment. By being made aware of the various advantages of certain treatments as well as seeing the predicted results visually, our patients can make better informed decisions when deciding on a treatment plan.

At St Piran Dental, we pride ourselves on being pioneers in digital dentistry. To learn more, please call us on 01872 573 993.