Come see our new baby! Okay, so it’s not a real baby.  Here at Serenity Smile Designs, we recently had a new machine installed and frankly it’s VERY exciting! With the Vatech PaX-Duo3D Cone Beam CT, Dr. Erik Mendelsohn now has access to the most advanced digital radiographs in dentistry today! We know that we get overly excited over things that the average dental patient might not get that excited about. However, this high-tech machine is bound to make your dental experience quicker and easier!

It looks and feels like just the old panorex machine that circled around your head to get a picture of your whole mouth, but this machine records a picture in 3D!

So what’s so special about 3D? Conventional radiographs are only 2-dimensional photograms. They are basically shadows of what is projected in the pathways of the x-ray beam. The more dense or radio-opaque something is in the x-ray’s pathway, the lighter it appears on the film/sensor.  In other words, you can see how tall and wide something is, but you cannot tell how deep it is.  A 3D picture enables Dr. Erik Mendelsohn to see height, width and depth, and he can accurately measure the distance between important structures inside the mouth like nerves, teeth and sinuses. This is very important when placing implants, looking at deeply impacted teeth, evaluating complicated root canals, or trying to evaluate pathology.

Implant patients can now rest easy—we do all the treatment planning, take the CT images, place your implants, and finish your final restoration to give you the smile and function you deserve.

CT mapping is a crucial step of this process, in order to properly plan the placement of implants. Dr. Erik Mendelsohn uses the three dimensional images to assess the patient’s bone densities, to determine the placement for the implant, or if there is an area in need of bone grafting. In the past, dental imaging has been grainy, and, at times, hard to read. Even a panoramic image, a more advanced type of x-ray, can sometimes be difficult to use. However, the CBCT makes taking an image of the patient easier for both doctor and patient. By using the Adaptive Layer Control, the system does away with the lack of clarity caused by an overlap of images taken. This makes it easier to see specific areas and not focus on the others.

As far as the patient’s concern, the process is as easy as standing in place and listening to simple instructions. The machine even plays music while it scans you. Before this machine, a patient would have to go to a referred radiologist to get a CT image taken. It could often take some time to get an appointment with the radiologist. Afterward, the patient must return for a follow up appointment to discuss the details of the image and the upcoming procedures. This process can take up to two weeks. Now, a patient can condense all of that into one appointment. The actual scan takes approximately 20 seconds and can be fit into a one-hour exam. Sixty minutes is a lot faster than two weeks! CT scans are safer than their predecessors, in that they emit less radiation than all other forms of dental diagnostic testing.

Dr. Erik Mendelsohn takes pride in his patients’ loyalty to him and his staff. He feels that keeping these services in-office allows the patient to be more at ease with their particular situation, and in turn, feeling more comfortable during the procedures.

Rest assured, the entire staff here at Serenity Smile Designs is constantly looking for ways to improve our patient’s care and comfort.

For an appointment or more information about our new Vatech PaX-Dou3D machine, please call us at (609) 646-1989! Or, if you’d prefer you can even email us at [email protected]. We’re happy to hear from existing patients as well as anyone just interested in their dental health!