William Esh, DDS on Advances in Digital Dentistry

X Ray radiation has been cut down significantly with this technology.  Storage of all this information is no longer in charts but digitally stored on the server.  Entries in the patient file itself is transitioning over to a paperless environment.

Future fabrication of most fillings and more sophisticated work will be done digitally.  The teeth will be digitally scanned with a computerized wand.  The information that is captured is transferred to a device which creates the accurate restoration.  We still have to prepare the tooth in the mouth.  However,  all the cake-mix like impression materials that we had placed in our mouths and waited for them to set…those days will be over. 

The predominant materials we use are now ceramic type materials.  They are strong and white in color.  They do not contain mercury like the older fashion silver fillings which are becoming more obsolete.