Laser Cavity Detection

If you have you ever gone to the dentist and had him find a cavity that wasn't seen just 6 months ago and when it was filled the cavity was quite large then you are really going to love this. The 1-2 combination of our Diagnodent laser cavity detector and our low-radiation x-ray system allows us to find cavities before they get big. This saves you not only time and money, but can also save your teeth from large fillings, root canals and crowns.

Diagnodent Laser Cavity Detection Unit

How does the Diagnodent work?
The Diagnodent is a pen-like probe that sends a safe, painless laser beam into the tooth and checks its health. A number scale and an alarm will signal when there are signs of hidden decay.

The above picture shows how the Diagnodent can find cavities that other dental instruments can miss

How come my dentist could not find my cavity until it was large?

With the widespread use of fluoride in both drinking water and toothpastes, it is much harder to detect tooth decay than ever before. This is because the fluoride hardens the enamel so that most decay starts in microscopic defects in the hard surface, and can readily spread into the softer surface beneath. This destroys the tooth from the inside out. The Diagnodent allows us to determine if decay is lurking beneath the apparently healthy tooth surface.

Can you use tooth colored (white) fillings in my teeth?
Absolutely!!! As a matter of fact we only place tooth colored fillings in teeth since these not only look better, but also are stronger and smaller than silver fillings. This is because tooth colored fillings are bonded in and actually help hold the remaining parts of the tooth together. Silver on the other hand is merely wedged in and does nothing to help strengthen the tooth.

White (colored) fillings vs. silver fillings

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