Catching Up with New Dental Technology

Ok... As you can tell by some of my posts I work in the dental field.  I've been a dental hygienist for 20 years now.  I consider myself a good hygienist.  I'm not the best but I'm not the worst not by any stretch of the imagination.  I take way more continuing education than is necessary to keep my license current. I try to stay up to date on new techniques and technologies and if it were up to me and I ran my own business I would have more of these things. But alas that's not how it works in the dental game.  Hygienists are still under the guise of the dentist so therefore we work for/with them.  Fortunately, I work with a dentist who likes to stay on the cutting edge with his education & technologies as much as he can afford too. Dang it if dental equipment weren't so darn expensive!  Well, anyway...he likes to get new things when possible and can be fit in our budget.  

He recently purchased the lastest Cerec machine which will allow the dentists in my practice to fit a crown for our patients in 1 visit and save them from coming back and missing possibly more work.  It's a pretty cool machine too.  We're also adding a new oral cancer screening tool to our practice called Oral-ID.  Oral cancer is on the rise and  there have been many screening tools that have come to the market over the last few years.  Some require the patient to rinse with this horrid tasting solution and a little disposable light wand is use to look in the mouth.  Then there is the Velscope & Identifi which uses fluorescing technology but they are pricey.  The Oral-ID uses the same technology but is smaller and less expensive to use. Therefore it's less expensive to the patient for their

screening :-)  It's a win, win for everyone around. We have better screening tools beside just our naked eyes and patients doen't have to pay an arm & a leg for their cancer screenings!  Looks like a flashlight doesn't it.  Pretty cool! Can't wait to start screening my patients and offering them a little more peace of mind.  With all the media goings on about Michael Douglas' oral cancer and HPV.  This little handheld device will help dental professionals give better care to their patients. 

Does your dentist or doctor use an oral cancer screening aid?  If not, let them know that there is an affordable way to provide this service to their patients.