Nannette Benedict, D.D.S.

4340 Scotts Valley Drive, Suite F, Scott's Valley, California 95066 (831) 440 -9214

Technology & Dentistry

Until the Second World War, the dental students where I went to school (UCSF) used to spend the first two weeks of dental school down by the Bay at the U.C. Foundry making their own dental instruments. My class came along a generation later so we didn't have to learn how to be blacksmiths in dental school but dentistry hadn't changed much for the previous 100 years. Happily, high technology and materials science at last have come to dentistry. As I enter my 31st year as a dentist, I did not imagine that I would be taking more classes, study clubs, and workshops than I did just out of dental school when I was starting out but that is how exciting the field has become. All the change has been for the better, too! I can enter all my treatment notes right at the chair. I also can take digital x-rays so there are no more toxic darkroom chemicals or waiting for film x-rays to develop. The digital x-rays use only one-third the radiation. I can send the digital x-rays to the insurance companies for pre-authorization with just a click. What's not to like about that progress?

Aside from the digital revolution, because of the advances in materials science, the new dental materials are much easier to use and safer now too. The silver-mercury amalgam that had to be hand mixed and then stuffed into a filling with a plunger is gone for good. None of us miss having to worry about mercury vapors around the office or in our patient's mouths! Now we use composite resins that we can sculpt and harden on cue with a special lights.

CROWNS (OR "CAPS")

When you combine the computer advances with the advances in materials science you get the CEREC®. It is for larger restorations (where a resin filling might not be strong enough to hold the tooth together safely). Don't worry, if you just have to do it the old fashioned way, some teeth are still appropriately restored with gold or porcelain caps (dentists call them "crowns" because they sound more elegant!). Of course, the old fashioned way is using messy impression trays, casting up a plaster model (that you never saw), putting in a temporary restoration while we wait a few days for the crown to be made at the dental lab, prying off the temporary restoration, and then finally seating the finished crown.

The modern solution employs the CEREC and it is so cool that even my video game enthralled children sometimes stop by the office just to watch it work. It is a Computer Assisted Design/Computer Assisted Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) system that allows me to make 3-D images to record the dimensions of the tooth that will get the crown better than any sticky impression tray full of goop ever could. Then, instead of the dental lab, I get to carve the perfect restoration for your tooth (the perfect crown) on the computer. When I'm satisfied that it is just right (structurally, anatomically, and esthetically), I make a click or two and the CEREC actually carves (The CEREC engineers say "mills" because they think that term in more elegant!) the crown right there in the office. From the time that I start imaging your tooth until the finished crown is ready to seat in your mouth is about 30 minutes! Is that cool or what?

The CEREC system has been in development since 1980 so it is nothing experimental. If you are interested in the history of the development of CEREC, they feature a very interesting Flash presentation but before you play it, you must turn off your pop-up blockers. Also, it gets a little boring watching the company develop from 1980 on so you can skip ahead by moving the date indicator with your mouse to the year 2000 or so. Click Here to go to their website.

ORTHODONTIA (OR "BRACES")

For most adults, straightening their teeth no longer requires wearing hardware and rubber bands. Instead, another CAD/CAM breakthrough helps Dr. Benedict to design a series of (twenty to thirty) clear, plastic "aligners" which, when worn in their prescribed order by you for a couple of weeks or so, will progressively move your teeth to straighten your smile. It's magic plastic with a determined memory. It takes about as long as traditional "braces" but compare 20-30 clear, plastic aligners (per arch) with traditional braces:

Of course, if you are not so much interested in the dental health benefits of improved, healthy arches and would rather go for a more attractive smile in the shortest time possible, then crowns and veneers can be employed for a relatively rapid cosmetic change. Dentists are not all that crazy for using crowns and veneers for cosmetic changes because most dentists love teeth and crowns and veneers require sacrificing some tooth so that the crown or veneer will adhere correctly. For example, when you decide on a veneer, the entire front surface of the tooth enamel is permanently removed. Then the veneer, a thin piece of specially-shaped porcelain or plastic, is glued over the front of your tooth. This is an irreversible procedure, since the tooth enamel is removed to accommodate the veneer. A crown prep removes even more of the tooth.

Another problem with veneers is that they are not a permanent solution. They can chip or break, requiring you to replace them on an individual basis, which can get pricey. Even if they don't chip or break, over time they will come off. Veneers tend to last about 5 to 10 years, depending on the quality of the veneers purchased. Since your tooth enamel has been removed, most patients have no choice but to replace their veneers, incurring the same high costs every time they have to get a new set. Crowns last much longer, in fact, they should last the rest of your life if you take good care of your gums but they are more expensive.

Date this site was last updated: 09/23/10