Month: August 2017

The Modern Technology of Dental Implant

The primary use of dental implants is to support dental prosthetics. Modern dental implants make use of osseointegration, the biologic process where bone fuses tightly to the surface of specific materials such as titanium and some ceramics. The integration of implant and bone can support physical loads for decades without failure.

For individual tooth replacement, an implant abutment is first secured to the implant with an abutment screw. A crown (the dental prosthesis) is then connected to the abutment with dental cement, a small screw, or fused with the abutment as one piece during fabrication. Dental implants, in the same way, can also be used to retain a multiple tooth dental prosthesis either in the form of a fixed bridge or removable dentures.

Dental Laboratories and dental technicians( dental laboratory equipment ) often work behind the scene with the dentist and/or the specialist and are an integral part of the treatment process for patients. A thorough understanding of patients’ anatomical limitations during treatment planning is essential, as is recommending and implementing the appropriate impression/transfer techniques, abutment design, and restoration design.

The modern dental laboratory, armed with a dental technician with the appropriate knowledge, skill, and experience can provide implant restorations in a financially, technically and esthetically predictable manner, delivering the highest standard of patient care.

In order to improve the predictability of any treatment outcome, it is critical to understand whether the patient’s anatomy, bone, and soft tissue, is favorable for esthetic integration. Dr. John Kois has noted that the patients’ presenting situation is the most important factor in determining whether an optimum esthetic result can be achieved.

As every situation is different, it is important for the patient to realize that compromises to the way the teeth look may still occur. Considerations that may compromise the symmetry of an attractive smile may include medical and/or dental history, gum, bone or existing teeth.

An implant supported bridge (or fixed denture) is a group of teeth secured to dental implants so the prosthetic cannot be removed by the user. Bridges typically connect to more than one implant and may also connect to teeth as anchor points. Typically the number of teeth will outnumber the anchor points with the teeth that are directly over the implants referred to as abutments and those between abutments referred to as pontics. Implant supported bridges attach to implant abutments in the same way as a single tooth implant replacement by dental implant machine. A fixed bridge may replace as few as two teeth (also known as a fixed partial denture) and may extend to replace an entire arch of teeth (also known as a fixed full denture). In both cases, the prosthesis is said to be fixed because it cannot be removed by the denture wearer.

 

The Information about Dental Air Cleaning

The air in dental surgeries has a variety of microbiological particulates and aerosols generated from ultrasonic scaler and high-speed drills. They vary in size from 0.5 to 5 microns in diameter and can remain airborne for many hours.

Dentists and their staff can easily inhale the viruses and bacteria contained within the aerosols, with facemasks offering no protection against this fine particulate pollution. Capturing these microorganisms reduces the risk of cross-infection – for the patient, the dentist and the team.

Dental Surgeries use chemical disinfectants to decontaminate hands, surfaces and instruments. While eliminating viruses, germs and fungal spores, disinfectants often contain toxic agents such as aldehydes (formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde) or phenol. Continuous low-level exposure to aldehydes can have negative health effects, such as breathing difficulties, memory impairment, eye and skin irritation and irregular heartbeat. Toxic compounds such as isopropanol, ethanol and n-propanol can also cause irritation of the respiratory tract and the mucous membranes.

Mercury Vapours

Recent research studies have found that both dentists and their staff have a higher than average level of mercury in their body. Mercury is used in the amalgam for routine dental fillings. Mercury transforms from a solid to a gas at room temperature. The gas (which is the most easily absorbed type of mercury) can be inhaled when amalgam is placed in the mouth or removed. Mercury is highly toxic and humans should not be exposed to it.

With this news and patients becoming more health conscious, requests for amalgam removals by dental amalgamator are rising steadily. It is therefore now more important than ever, for dentists to protect themselves and their team from this harmful substance.

Dental Air Conditioning

It is now commonplace for dentists to have air-conditioning systems installed. These installation systems are, however, often a source of contamination themselves, either because they are equipped with less then adequate filtration or because they are drawing in polluted air from outside without filtering it sufficiently. Indoor air contamination can be many times greater than external conditions, and dental air cleaning is required.

Prompted by an ever growing number of dentist offices as customers, Commercial Air Filtration specifies the IQAir Dental Series which has been developed to provide a flexible, cost effective, silent and low maintenance air cleaning solution for dental practices.

The Scientific Explanation of Dental Amalgam

Elemental mercury is the primary component of dental amalgam. Mercury is a naturally occurring metal in the environment and can exist in liquid, gas or solid form when combined with other metals. Everyone is exposed to mercury through air, drinking water, soil and food. The concern is how much mercury exposure is too much before becoming mercury poisoning, and are mercury levels increasing as a result of interactions with other elements in the environment?

Mercury is released into the environment whenever a dentist removes an old amalgam filling from a cavity, or when excess amalgam is removed during the placement of a new filling. There is a concern that low levels of vapor can be inhaled and absorbed by the lungs even years after an amalgam filling is placed in a patient’s mouth, potentially causing long-term damage to the brain and kidneys. Due to the lack of scientific data surrounding this concern, little has been done over the years to limit the use and/or disposal of dental amalgam.

In 2009, the FDA issued a final rule that classified dental amalgam (dental amalgamator) as a Class II device accompanied by a document that designates special controls for dental amalgam. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the EPA have established mercury exposure levels aimed at protecting the most mercury-sensitive populations from the adverse effects of mercury vapor, namely pregnant women, developing fetuses and all children under 6 years old.

It is understood that a number of dental offices may already have an amalgam separator in place, whether to comply with existing state or local amalgam regulations, or because they voluntarily installed an amalgam separator. According to the new EPA ruling, dental offices with existing amalgam separators will not be penalized as long as the separator is certified to remove 95% of total mercury.

The EPA will not require existing separators that still have a remaining useful life to be retrofitted with a new separator, because of the additional costs incurred by dental facilities that proactively installed an amalgam separator ahead of the EPA’s proposed requirements, and because of the additional solid waste that would be generated by disposing of the existing separators.

As long as offices with existing separators continue to properly operate and maintain the separator and comply with BMPs and recordkeeping requirements, these offices will be deemed in compliance with the new ruling until ten years from the effective date of the final rule.

 

How to Choose the Best Dental X-ray Machine

Dental X-rays are one of the most important part of your regular dental treatment. Your dentist uses the specialized imaging technology to look for hidden tooth decay – also called cavities – and can show dental issues such as abscessed teeth, dental tumors, and cysts. The purpose of these machines is to see things that are not visible by visual examination of the mouth alone. Dentists can use the images produced to see the teeth as well as the bones and soft tissues around them. Finding cavities, examining teeth roots, viewing tooth development, and checking the underlying bone health are all functions performed by various dental x ray machines.

When contemplating the change to digital dental in your practice, the choices can be confusing for the dentist. Dental radiography has evolved from film and chemical developers into a highly technical process that involves various types of digital x-ray machines, as well as powerful dental software programs to assist the dentist with image acquisition and diagnostic analysis of the acquired images. When making the decision to purchase x-ray equipment, the doctor needs to research the available options thoroughly, in order to make an informed choice for the “right” machine for his or her practice.

The first question that a doctor should ask themselves is, “What is the main type of treatment that I provide my patients?” If you are a general practitioner, a standard 2D panorex will provide all of the imaging requirements needed for such treatments as caries detection, diagnosis of TMJ issues, OPG images, and images of the patients entire detention in a single x-ray. Many of the newer 2D panoramic units also offer extraoral bitewing imaging capability, which allows the dentist to obtain a bitewing image without putting a sensor or periapical film inside of the patient’s mouth.

The orthodontist requires a way to obtain the size and form of craniofacial structures in the patient. For this reason, a cephalometric extension on the imaging x-ray device is necessary to acquire images that evaluate the five components of the face, the cranium and cranial base, the skeletal maxillae, the skeletal mandible, and maxillary dentition. The cephalometric attachment offers images such as frontal AP and lateral cephs.

If the practice is concentrated in endodontic and implant treatment, then a CBCT machine is the most practical method of providing the doctor with diagnostic tools such as mandibular canal location, surgical guides, and pre-surgical treatment planning with the assistance of powerful 3D dental software applications. The patient is benefited by the reduced radiation exposure provided by these machines.