Advanced Technology – Johnston, IA

Precision Dentistry

When you seek care at our office, you are assured that Dr. Emily, Dr. Derek, and their team utilizes the latest in technology to enhance the quality and fit of your dental care.

Our practice uses high power loupes (magnified eyewear) to enhance the precision of our patient care.

Dentistry is micro-surgery. Using loupes enables us to create dental restorations with an incredibly precise fit and finish. You just can’t fulfill that level of care with the naked eye.

In addition to allowing precise work, the loupes direct a beam of light directly on the teeth, minimizing glare for you.

Many dentists use air-driven handpieces (the dental term for “drills”). While acceptable for many procedures, these “whiney sounding” air-powered hand pieces all have a degree of non-concentricity; they do not rotate perfectly smoothly.

For the most precise aspects of restorative procedures, we use electric hand-pieces. This results in extraordinarily precise interfaces between your tooth and your new restoration (dental crown, tooth veneer, or tooth filling). This will bring more comfort to you as well. With a more precise tool, there is less vibration and less noise.

Digital Imaging

Dr. Emily and Dr. Derek carefully choose which radiographs are taken and how often they are made. Radiographs allow us to see things we cannot see with our own eyes. Radiographs enable us to detect cavities in between your teeth, determine bone levels beneath the gums, and analyze the health of your bone. We can also examine the roots and nerves of teeth, diagnose lesions such as cysts or tumors, as well as assess damage when trauma occurs.

Dental radiographs are invaluable aids in diagnosing, treating, and maintaining dental health. Exposure time for dental radiographs is extremely minimal. Dr. Emily and Dr. Derek utilize digital imaging technologies within the office. With digital imaging, exposure time is about 50 percent less and radiation exposure is about 1/6th the level of traditional radiographs. Digital images are also of higher quality than traditional x-rays; this helps us retrieve valuable diagnostic information and diagnose disease early on.

Digital imaging also allows us to store patient images on the computers, and enables us to quickly and easily transfer them to specialists or insurance companies.

Laser Dentistry

Laser dentistry is one of dentistry’s latest advances. The laser delivers energy in the form of light. Depending on the intended result, this energy travels at different wavelengths and is absorbed by a “target.” In dentistry, these targets can be enamel, decay, or gum tissue. Each one absorbs a different wavelength of light while reflecting others. For soft tissue surgical procedures, the laser eliminates the need for suturing and healing time is much faster.

Lasers can also be used to diagnose cavities. They can find hidden decay in teeth in early stages, and in some cases the decay can be reversed through hygiene and fluoride treatment and may never need filling.

Areas of dental care that benefit from laser technology:

• Cavity diagnosis
• Curing, or hardening, bonding materials
• Periodontal, or gum related, care
• Apthous Ulcer treatment (canker sore)
• Herpes Simplex Virus-1 treatment (cold sore)
• Frenectomy (tongue-tie or lip-tie release) without sutures
• Gingivectomy and other gum corrections

Dental lasers have been shown to be safe and effective for treating both children and adults.

Intraoral Camera

Many patients are very familiar with the latest technology and are comfortable with the high tech practice. Computers and TV screens are their primary method of information processing.

Dr. Emily and Dr. Derek utilize intraoral camera technology that helps enhance your understanding of your diagnosis. An intraoral camera is a very small camera that allows us to obtain clear, precise images of your mouth, teeth, and gums, in order for us to accurately make and explain a diagnosis. With enlarged images, you see details that may be missed by standard mirror examinations. This can mean faster diagnosis with less chair-time for you!

Intraoral cameras also enable our practice to save your images to provide a permanent record of treatments. These images can be printed or sent electronically to you, dental specialists, dental labs, or insurance companies.