Announcing Our Scholarship Winner!

Here at Guerra Dental, we are PROUD to announce the winner of the $1,500 essay scholarship for the 2015 fall semester! Congratulations to Maryam Ghaderi-Yeganeh!! We are so proud of her essay and wish her luck this semester!

Please see her award winning essay below:

“Put simply, high-tech dental offices are equipped to provide better, more accurate, and faster care.

High-tech dental offices are also better for the environment. The use of digital photos and radiography that don’t need to be printed save both paper and other resources (such as chemicals needed to process x-ray films), and allow for a patient to be involved with his or her care—from helping with the diagnosis to giving input for decision making in terms of treatment.

Cone beam 3D scans capture more than 500 individual images, helping dentists correctly assess and plan crown placement. The 3D view they provide is advantageous for both diagnosis and continued management of jaw conditions. This scanning technique lessens a patient’s exposure to radiation, increases patient comfort, and is instantaneous.

Speaking of crowns, high-tech dental offices have access to the latest, newest material used for crowns. Dentists looking for translucent material to create an undetectable restoration use lithium disilicate, which is a new, high strength, product used for the manufacturing of crowns and veneers. Lithium disilicate doesn’t need a metallic base like traditional crowns do, and so patients get better looking teeth that are not tainted by the gray gum line that traditional crowns give.

Technology makes dentistry a team process that involves not only a dental team but also the patient. For instance, intra-oral cameras with computer enhancement allow for a dentist to graphically display and review problem areas on a computer that permit detailed development of treatment plans.

Safe and painless cavity detectors like DIAGNOdent can detect cavities too miniscule to be seen through conventional means by scanning teeth with a painless beam of light. This technology allows for such small cavities to be treated before they get worse, and also helps with the diagnosis of decay on chewing surfaces.

Microscope enhanced dentistry increases visibility from 10 to 24 times, and can help a patient avoid endodontic problems for months or years before they could even be diagnosed through conventional methods. This technology improves accuracy of diagnosis and enhances patient care.

Some high-tech dental offices also use lasers in place of certain traditional dentistry treatments. For instance, lasers can be used to drill teeth. Lasers can also allow for more comfortable and less complicated surgical procedures: they can reduce or eliminate the use of freezing, reduce or eliminate bleeding, and allow for faster healing after surgery.

High tech dental offices are also more equipped to deal with the oral diagnosis and screening serious maladies, as devices like Identafi allow for early detection of oral cancer.

Technology like high intensity discharge (HID) lamps are light and small enough that a dentist can have it attached to his glasses, which makes for a less stressed and more comfortable dentist who can treat his patients quickly and effectively.

Thus, high-tech dental offices are the best options for all patients as they save time, increase efficiency and accuracy with greater precision and speed. One would be crazy not to seek out a high-tech dental office.”