At Dr. Fred Alger, we use state of the art technology to better care for you, our patient. As dental technology has advanced, this has granted dentists more effective tools to improve diagnostics and treatments. An intraoral camera is one example that makes it easier for dental professionals to view inside patients’ mouths and show patients what they see.
At Dr. Fred Alger Periodontics & Dental Implants, we use intraoral scanning whenever it can assist during a patient visit, and we use the images to provide excellent dental care.
What Are Intraoral Cameras?
Intraoral cameras are small, handheld devices that can easily be navigated during your appointment. Dr. Fred Alger can hold it within your mouth and easily move it around to capture images.
The camera allows Dr. Alger to see areas that might otherwise be more difficult to discover. Digitally scanning with this technology helps him gain a close-up view of your teeth, gums and mouth tissue. In some cases, he may also use a medical-grade extraoral camera or a miniature endoscopic camera, depending upon your needs.
Using Intraoral Cameras for Precise Diagnoses in Columbus
Our treatment rooms are equipped with a diagnostic camera, which helps Dr. Alger and his team examine our patients’ mouths. This digital dentistry technology can help inform accurate diagnoses and a custom treatment plan. For example, we may use it to precisely diagnose gum disease and focus on problem areas.
Each treatment room also has a monitor that instantly displays the images captured by the intraoral camera during the visit. The monitor helps Dr. Alger and his team see a large, clear view of your oral health and allows Dr. Alger to effectively communicate with our patients by showing what he is referring to.
Through intraoral scanning technology, patients can see first-hand:
- Areas of gum recession or periodontal disease
- Cracks or fractures in the teeth
- Factors that impact periodontal health, such as tartar deposits, gum infections, or existing restorations
- Sensitive areas that require treatment
What Are the Benefits of Intraoral Cameras?
When patients can see images of their mouth, they can better understand their dental condition. Dr. Alger uses this technology to educate patients. He also encourages his patients to ask any questions that they might have concerning the health of their mouths and their treatment options.
Beyond showing images on a screen, pictures and videos from a patient’s mouth can be permanently saved in the patient’s health record. We can also electronically send these images to our patients or their referring dentist. Having existing images on file is an excellent way to monitor the change or progress of conditions and treatment that we complete.
Delivering Excellence in Every Appointment
Using intraoral cameras is yet another way Dr. Alger provides interactive patient treatment. By having an intraoral camera in each patient room, we can turn to it whenever it can improve a patient visit.
Dr. Alger may use this digital dentistry technology to inform precise diagnoses, follow the state of your oral health during and after treatment, and better communicate your oral health situation through the help of images.
We welcome questions about our technology and encourage you to contact our office today to discuss your specific dental needs!
Video Transcript
Our patients love this new technology! Our assistants will pick up this little camera, iTero Scanner, and they’ll take images of the patient’s mouth. Dr. Alger’s team can use this instead of taking pictures with a camera. It also does much more than that. These images that are recorded digitally can be looked at again in six months or in a year and Dr. Alger can actually monitor the level of the patient’s gums for recession. He will be able to tell within a tenth of a millimeter if there’s been a change in the location of their gums has it proceeded further. So those patients that were being conservative and not recommending gum surgery we can actually tell them your condition is stable or it’s deteriorated we have this digital image to help with. Not only that this takes the place, in most cases, of the conventional impressions, the goo that you put in your mouth, now Dr. Alger and his team can take the digital image and really have a more accurate measurement. They can also take this and then send it to the dental lab and they will make surgical guides to help with our implant placement! It has a wide variety of uses.