The DIAGNOdent™ Laser Scanner Finds Ultrasmall Cavities Years Earlier
Have you ever had a dentist find a cavity and place a large filling, and wondered why the filling is so large if the cavity wasn’t there just six months before? The cavity was there — it just wasn’t big enough to show on X-rays or be visible to the dentist yet. The DIAGNOdent can find cavities years earlier, when the small cavity can be removed and repaired with a small invisible bonded filling. Sometimes patients complain of tooth sensitivity, or mild to severe pain, yet X-rays and examinations cannot pinpoint the source. Patients are often given sensitivity toothpaste to deal with the problem. Sometimes, dentists have to perform root canals to get the pain or sensitivity to stop, when the actual source turned out to be undetectable decay. The laser scanner can detect previously undetected decay and, once identified, allow us to remove the discomfort and leave you with a healthy smile. Quite often, new adult patients arrive in our office with many teeth stains that look like decay. The DIAGNOdent helps us decide if it is a stain or a cavity starting. We record the laser reading and track it over the years. A reading of 1 to 10 means a healthy tooth; 11 through 29 is not yet a cavity but getting closer to dentin; a reading of over 30 indicates a cavity that needs to be fixed.
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