Gerry Campbell, group vice president commercial EMEA Dentsply Sirona, gives his top three reasons why digital dentistry will help our industry recover.
Digital dentistry has been around for several years. More recently the adoption of this technology has gathered a lot of momentum. It is the way forward to satisfy the needs of the modern consumer.
I agree with this point of view. In fact, it’s never been more appropriate.
The lockdown caused by COVID-19 has hit dental practices hard. Each one needs help to recapture the ground lost in the last six months.
I believe that digital dentistry holds the key to much of the recovery.
Efficiency, experience, expansion
For me, the power of digital dentistry is distilled into three key advantages: efficiency, experience and expansion.
The pandemic has reduced the number of treatments dental practices can perform each day. Therefore the quest for efficiency has never been as important.
This is one area where digital dental equipment excels.
Take intraoral scanners as an example; with this equipment, a dentist or trained nurse can take a digital impression of both arches in a matter of minutes. This also reduces chairtime and gives patients a more comfortable experience.
Digital scanning leaves a surgery needing the minimum amount of decontamination. It also enables the dental team to clean down and move to the next patient more swiftly.
When we consider the ‘experience’ of the patient, digital dentistry again provides benefits in many ways.
It gives patients a better insight into their treatment, enabling them to view digital scans of their teeth. It therefore also helps them understand the clinical situation and treatment recommendations more fully. And it can also instil confidence in you as their dentist and encourage treatment acceptance.
Once a dialogue is open, there are always further opportunities to suggest different options and expand treatment plans. All in order to give your patients the smile they want and a smile they are more than happy to share with the world through social media.
Digital impressions are the gateway to all manner of digitally enabled treatments. Such as single-visit dentistry for single or multiple-tooth restorations, clear aligners and implants. All are available and we can fully integrate them into a digital workflow making it more streamlined.
From the horse’s mouth
Digital dentistry has huge potential to help dental practices respond to today’s challenges. But new technology is daunting and of course, it’s not always easy to adopt new ways of working.
That’s why we’ve asked a number of successful dental professionals to talk about their experiences of digital dentistry in a series of online, free-of-charge events. These take place during October and November.
The speaker line-up is world class, and between them they have racked up decades of experience.
They will speak candidly about how digital dentistry is working for them every day in their practices and laboratories. I therefore hope it is an inspiration for those setting out on their digital journey.
If you’re interested in finding out more about digital dentistry, these online events – led by dentists and technicians who have been there and done it – are a great place to start.
‘Let’s Talk Digital Transformation’, sponsored by Dentsply Sirona. Click here to register now.
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