THE DIGITAL STREAM

As an oral surgeon, I do many procedures that require impressions—fabricating surgical guides, creating appliances to correct sleep apnea, etc. I’ve seen great results when using a digital scanner to take impressions in place of conventional impression materials. Not only is the process faster and more efficient, but I’ve noticed that my patients also prefer digital impressions to the potentially gag-inducing polyvinyl or alginate.

Imagine this scenario: you purchase a new Samsung television. At first, everything is working great—until one day you notice you are no longer able to watch Blu-rays through your Sony player. After doing some investigating, you discover that Samsung now requires that only their Blu-ray players can be hooked up to their television, unless you want to pay a charge to have Sony’s signal decrypted and playable.

I have been using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) since 2003; in fact, I believe I am one of the first endodontists to incorporate this technology into my practice. In the time since, the evolution of CBCT systems has been impressive. At its core, I find the following benefits to be instrumental when it comes to utilizing 3D imaging in my endodontic and traumatology cases:

At this point, cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is recognized as an important diagnostic technology by general practitioners and specialists. While sending patients to an imaging center is one option for obtaining desired scans, I cannot stress enough the importance of having a 3D imaging unit available onsite. An in-house CBCT system not only benefits your patients, but your practice as well.