Cavities can’t play
hide ‘n seek
anymore
The Laser Scanner Finds Ultra-Small Cavities YEARS Earlier
If you are like most of us, you’ve had the dentist find a cavity
and place a rather large filling. And you’ve probably wondered
why the filling is so large if the cavity wasn’t there just six
months before. The answer is that the cavity WAS there six months before — it
just wasn’t big enough to show on x-rays or for the dentist to
see.
With the new Laser Scanner we can find cavities years earlier, when
the ultra-small cavity can be removed with a laser, and repaired with
a small invisible bonded filling.
How Cavities Grow
Back teeth are formed with numerous grooves and pits. These grooves
and pits are so narrow that tooth brush bristles just cannot reach the
bottom of these grooves.
Toothbrush
bristles just can’t fit down into these very narrow grooves
Decay-causing bacteria hide deeply in these grooves, give off their
acids and cause cavities. This type of cavity is responsible for
80% of all cavities that occur.
Below see the typical progression of these pit & fissure cavities:
Why Didn’t My X-Ray Show the Cavity?
You may be wondering why x-rays do not show these cavities when the
cavities are smaller. X-rays show us variations in density (hardness)
of tissues. Decay will show up as a darkness inside the tooth because
decay is softer than the teeth. But until the decay is about 1/3
of the width of the entire tooth, there is not enough contrast to show
on the x-ray. So by the time the cavity shows on the x-ray, it’s
already quite significant in size.
The Laser Scanner Finds Even Tiny Amounts
of Decay
The Laser Scanner – known as a DIAGNOdent--is the biggest advance
in dental diagnostics since the x-ray.
This diagnostic laser that shines a harmless laser light beam into the
tooth, which reflects the light beam back at the tip of the Laser Scanner. Tooth
decay (cavities) will give off a fluorescent reflection that will be
sensed by the Laser Scanner. Tooth decay is the only natural occurring
substance in teeth that will give off fluorescence in response to the
Laser Scanner’s laser light beam. If tooth decay is present,
even in the tiniest amounts, the Laser Scanner will alert Dr. Kurthy
via a digital screen and audible noise.
Here is a diagram of the dentist checking for cavities
with the dental pick. As you can see in the enlarged area,
the pick binds and cannot get all the way to the bottom of the
groove to feel the cavity |
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In the second diagram you see the tip of the Laser
Scanner shining its harmless laser light beam into the hiding cavity. Not
only will the Laser Scanner light beam shine down into grooves,
but it will also shine right through tooth structure to search
out cavities. |
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Consider this – almost all crowns and root canals are necessary
due to complications caused years after large silver fillings have been
placed. But now, with the diagnostic ability of the Laser Scanner,
cavities are found when they are ultra-small, repaired using a laser,
and filled with miniature tooth colored fillings. These fillings will
be a small fraction of the size they would have been if we had not found
them in time.
Don’t you wish they had had this when we were kids?
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