We sat down with Dr. Rob Lipkowitz of Lipkowitz Dental Associates to discuss advancements in dental technology. Hear what Dr. Rob has to say about up-and-coming technology and what he is excited about implementing into his practice.
Sleep Dentistry
One of the things I’m excited about implementing within the next year to year and a half is sleep dentistry. There are a lot of people who are suffering from sleep apnea today and on average people really only tolerate CPAP machines for about three years before they’ve had enough of it. The machines are very cumbersome and difficult, especially if you have to travel with them. Some really great advances in sleep medicine are coming down the pipe. It’s going to be hard to get rid of the apnea machines as they’re currently the most effective solution but there are appliances that we can wear in substitute.
Sleep apnea is a continuum and if you can get it 50% better or 75% better it can make a huge impact on people’s health. So, learning about that and then delivering that service to my patients is something I’m really happy about.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is about to make an impact on dentistry. We’re already seeing it in terms of cavity diagnosis, in terms of taking X-rays and then running them through AI filters that will then diagnose the presence of lesions in the teeth as well as lesions in the bone. X-rays can be difficult to read, so that’ll really make it wonderful. Sometimes I like to say that it’s a little bit like a Rorschach test or looking at clouds. You can kind of see what you want in the clouds and there’s a little bit of that with X-rays. So it takes a while to look at them and with really subtle things can be missed.
Robotics
Robotics is something that they’re starting to talk about in terms of implant dentistry. The computer technology we have combined with these robotics may make them more accurate and allow people with less skill to place them in ways that give you the advantage of having a high, more highly qualified person doing it. It will take a while for the robot assistant to settle out, likely five to ten years.
If you’re looking to join a practice with great technological advances, become a Lipkowitz Dental patient. Visit www.lipkowitzdental.com today to book your appointment.
