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Vivek says technology is making dental work more convenient and less painful.
Whether he is at home or in his dental surgery, Matakana dentist Vivek Jain has an abiding hunger for technological innovation.
Unsurprisingly, he is intensely proud of the latest wizardry acquired for his Matakana Dental Care practice.
This includes an advanced system for making crowns (CEREC), three-dimensional X-rays, CAD/CAM (computer aided design and manufacture) and “dental spa therapy”, which includes cutting-edge methods of removing food particles, plaque and stains.
He says Matakana Dental Care is possibly the only dental surgery in New Zealand to incorporate all these technologies under one roof.
“Technology comes with a long and sometimes not so easy learning curve, and unless you have a passion for it, you can easily give up,” he says.
Vivek says technology is increasingly making dental work more convenient and less painful.
For example, CEREC uses a computer-aided design system to create a three dimensional image of a required crown within minutes. The image can then be discussed with the patient and an appropriate colour shade for the crown agreed upon. Once the final design is confirmed, the crown can be manufactured at the surgery while the patient has a coffee. The crown is then fitted and the entire procedure completed in a single day.
Vivek says without CEREC, a dentist is obliged to take moulds of a patient’s teeth by inserting messy materials into the patient’s mouth, which can cause pain or gagging. The mould must then be sent to a dental lab, which might take up to two weeks to fabricate the crown. Meanwhile, the dentist inserts a temporary crown while the new one is made. The patient must then return to the dentist, have a second injection, have the temporary crown removed and the new one fitted. If there are any issues with the new crown, and sometimes there are, the patient has to go through the entire rigmarole a second time.
“Now you can imagine how painless, fast and seamless using the CEREC technology is – all in a day in the most comfortable way,” Vivek says.
Meanwhile, three-dimensional X-rays allow dentists to diagnose diseases at a much earlier stage and perform faster and more accurate surgeries than using conventional 2-D.
Vivek says 3-D is especially handy when performing dental implants. With 2-D, a dentist has to keep taking fresh X-rays during the procedure to ensure there is sufficient bone structure for the implant.
With 3-D, this is all established before surgery starts and further helps the dentist to accurately place the implant in the pre-planned position.
“So a two-hour surgery can sometimes be done in less than 30 minutes,” Vivek says.
Currently Vivek’s sister practice Snells Dental has CAD-CAM and the dental spa treatments. He anticipates it will also have CEREC and three-dimensional X-rays within the next two years.
Vivek says when patients leave his clinics they are often amazed at how dentistry has changed.
“I see patients enjoying coming to us and actively participating in their treatment plan when they see 3-D images of their teeth. This drives me the most,” he says.
