Smile Design

Three-dimensional imaging has become an important tool in dentistry that improves treatment planning to enhance smiles and optimize oral health. State-of-the-art 3D digital images give a clearer and far more accurate picture across a range of aesthetic dental concerns and problems.

In revolutionizing the way cosmetic dentists and prosthodontists work, 3D imaging gives patients a better experience. It makes evaluation and treatment faster and more comfortable, and the imaging process entails minimal radiation. Many people remain unaware of what 3D dental imaging is and how it works. Plymouth prosthodontist Metropolitan Prosthodontics provides the answers in this post.

What is 3D Digital Dental Imaging?

Medical technology has progressed rapidly over recent decades, especially in dentistry. One of the most significant advances is 3D digital imaging. This type of radiology uses X-rays to capture 3D images instead of the 2D images produced by conventional X-rays. It also scans soft tissues as well as teeth and bones. The process incorporates digital X-ray sensors as opposed to the traditional photographic film. Unlike 2D X-ray images, 3D images can be digitally transferred and enhanced, with less radiation.

Your digital data can be transferred to a computer for immediate analysis, and all the necessary information is available from a single scan that takes just a few seconds. 3D imaging provides highly detailed information to ensure a better patient experience and more effective subsequent treatment. The images show dentists how teeth and other oral structures look in real life, including the height, width, and depth of each individual tooth in your smile. This facilitates highly effective, precise diagnosis and treatment planning.

Why and How is 3D Imaging Used in Dentistry?

Traditional 2D X-rays are quickly becoming a thing of the past in dental offices. They show dentists only a limited picture. So an increasing number of dentists are now using 3D imaging technology. A single 3D scan enables dentists to better visualize teeth and soft tissues such as muscles and nerves so they can diagnose infection and disease more accurately. It also helps dentists and prosthodontists to optimize patient comfort when designing smiles and resolving dental health issues.

Three-dimensional imaging has many applications in dentistry, including teeth straightening and root canal therapy. It may also be used in planning dental implant treatment and in maxillofacial prosthodontics, including surgical procedures to treat sleep apnea and temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD).

With 3D scans, your Plymouth prosthodontist can zoom in on and rotate the resulting images and view them from any angle and at different depths. They can visualize teeth and their roots, jawbones, gums, nerves, and airways, and see how these structures are interacting with one another. With 2D X-rays there’s a time gap as the film is developed. A digital scanner produces 3D images instantly. And the digital nature of the images makes it easy to share the scans with other dentists who may be involved in your care.

Cone Beam CT Imaging in Dentistry

Dental offices often use cone beam computerized tomography (CBCT) to get 3D images of the teeth and soft tissues such as sinuses and nerves. CT scans also make it easier for oral surgeons to check the location, height, and width of jawbone. The most precise oral and facial imaging system to date, cone beam CT scanning developed from CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) technology in the 1970s, but it produces less radiation.

The 360-degree scan is painless and fast, turning a series of images into high-resolution visualizations through advanced 3D software. Applications of cone beam CT imaging in dentistry include diagnosis of cleft palate and problems caused by impacted teeth.

How 3D Imaging Improves the Patient Experience in a Smile Makeover

Cosmetic dentistry to redesign and revamp smiles entails procedures such as teeth whitening, porcelain veneers, porcelain crowns, dental bonding, white composite fillings, and dental implants to replace missing teeth. These treatments often require X-rays. A non-invasive process, 3D imaging is precise, painless, safe, fast, and clean, making treatment planning and the procedure more comfortable. It also minimizes cost.

Unlike a 2D X-ray, 3D digital scanning doesn’t involve biting down on a sensor such as a bitewing, which can feel awkward and uncomfortable. 3D imaging is safer because it reduces the length of time of exposure to radiation and produces 90 per cent less radiation than traditional X-rays. The level of radiation from a set of digital X-rays is less than the amount of radiation you’re exposed to naturally in the course of a single day.

Compared with 2D X-rays, digital imaging allows your prosthodontist to see your mouth in its entirety, rather than a series of small sections. It also provides more detail of soft tissue and bone structures, which can then be evaluated more accurately. Furthermore, 3D imaging enables detection of problems that might be missed with 2D X-rays. And when integrated with simulation technology, 3D imaging lets you see what the outcome of your procedure will look like. Digital technology can also be applied to the process of taking impressions. This avoids filling the mouth with a substance to create a mold, which can be particularly distressing for patients with a strong gag reflex.

Comfortable Cosmetic Treatments with 3D Imaging at Metropolitan Prosthodontics

Three-dimensional images have taken dental X-rays to a new level – or more precisely, the next dimension. They allow prosthodontists and general dentists to view structures of the mouth, face and head from almost unlimited perspectives and in remarkably fine detail. This provides a valuable aid whether planning aesthetic treatment or evaluating the results of a procedure. Patients prefer 3D dental imaging because it’s more comfortable than conventional X-rays and takes less time, while being more accurate. That’s why your Plymouth prosthodontist Metropolitan Prosthodontics has embraced this technology.

As recognized specialists in aesthetic tooth repair and replacement and in cosmetic dentistry, we always keep up to speed with advances in dental technology that help ensure patients have a more comfortable experience. And 3D imaging plays an important role in this.

Contact us if you’d like to find out more about comfortable smile design with cutting-edge 3D imaging.