In the past few years, the advances in dental technology have been amazing and the Lipkowitz Dental Associates office is known for implementing a lot of great dental technology in the practice. Recently, Dr. Rob sat down to talk about dental technology at Lipkowitz Dental Associates.
Can you talk about your process for implementing new technologies?
I always like to read about the latest technologies. It’s exciting to see what kind of technology is coming down the pike and what may eventually create some real benefits for the patients as well as doing better dental work.
But, like everything else, there’s no such thing as truth in advertising. I like to read about these things and watch them carefully for about five years because this is how long it takes to truly understand where technology falls into the market and whether it lives up to its original hype or not. So, if after about five years or so, I think those benefits are still there then I’ll start looking at how to implement it into the practice.
How has new technology improved the practice?
They have really surprised me. This is nothing like the way I practiced dentistry when I first started practicing dentistry.
Intraoral Photography and Digital X-Rays
I’ve had digital photography and intraoral photography in the practice for many years and that really was a great breakthrough because it allows patients to see what I’m seeing. The picture is worth 1000 words. About 15 years ago we implemented digital X-rays and now those one-inch square X-rays can now be blown up to a full-size computer screen. Every X-ray has more information that even without glasses or from across the room, you couldn’t miss it.
CEREC Same-Day Crowns
Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve been doing a lot of work with my CEREC machine. There’s a scanner that allows us to create crowns in the practice. Patients love it because now you can have a crown in one day as opposed to having to wait a month between your visits. If the crown doesn’t fit properly, we know right away. We can just change the scan a little bit, send it back to the mill, and 10 minutes later, I have a new crown to put in and make sure it’s fitting properly. It’s just really made the workflow so smooth and patients only need to come in for one visit instead of two or even three.
Aligner Therapy
Just recently I changed my scanner out and it has allowed me to do things like aligner therapy for orthodontics. Typically for even easy orthodontics, I would have to send patients to my favorite orthodontist in the area. He would do a wonderful job, but it would be six months before I would see the patients back. A lot of patients just didn’t want to go to another place to have that kind of work done. They’re much happier now that I can handle small orthodontic cases here.
When we have complex reconstructive cases, it’s great to be able to have the teeth in the right place to begin with. It gives you better results and patients really like the one-stop shopping.
If you’re looking to join a practice with great technological advances, become a Lipkowitz Dental patient. Learn more and book your appointment at www.lipkowitzdental.com.
