Faster, High-Tech Dental Treatments: Less Time in the Dental Chair and the Waiting Room

Q: I understand patients want to spend less time hanging around doctor’s offices these days, but how can one do this when needing extensive dental work?

A: Well, I had to cut the umbilical cord and let my son head back to Boston to get his diploma from Tufts University College of Dental Medicine. There goes my private butler. Who will I share my steady diet of peanut butter stuffed pretzels with? How will I figure out how to play movies from Amazon Prime? Who will watch award winning dumb shows like Canada’s “Letterkenny” on Hulu with me? (Hicks, Skids and Hockey Players. Pitter-patter, let’s get at’er!)

If you want to get in and out a lot quicker the next time you need dental work, here are some techniques that reduce your procedure times by 50 to 100%, keeping you away from others and opening up your free time to get out and have a life. These techniques also are paramount for effective infection control:

• No-Cut dental implant surgery: No scalpel, no stitches, no need for a second stage surgery three to four months later, faster healing and less pain and swelling; actually almost none! A small rotating tissue punch plus water-cooled micro bone drills does the job rapidly.
• Electronic Anesthesia machines: A computer controlled syringe that quickly and more comfortably pumps anesthetic next to the teeth and nerves vs. the old shiny chrome hypodermic needle.
• Digital “No-Goop” impression scanners that replaces the goop with a digital scanner that takes a 3-D video of the teeth in seconds. Great for all crowns, veneers, inlays and bridges. Great for those that gag easily.
• Electric Drills: Replaces the tired, old ear-piercing air turbine drills commonly found in most dental practices with superfast, high torque, fiber optic guided, quiet drills.
• Morning Huddles: In my 32 years of practicing and consulting other offices around the US and Canada, I am surprised at how many offices do not meet before the day begins to go over what is going to happen in each minute of the day. The “huddle” allows us to plan enough time for each patient’s procedures, increasing the efficiency and flow, resulting in you spending less time in the chair and waiting room. Proper spacing between patients allows for us to sterilize and disinfect the room between patients.
• Comprehensive Treatment plans: by breaking down all your work into blocks of time vs. doing it piecemeal, allows you to maximize your time in the dental chair. Example: if you are replacing a crown on the lower left quadrant and you need periodontal deep scaling in that same area; have the doctor and the hygienist see you during the same trip to the office.

For more info on any of these techniques that we use every day in our practice, contact us and I will forward you some literatures and images.