Dental technology has a colourful history that includes the use of shells (the Mayan way to make dental implants) and hippopotamus bones (a Victorian-era way to replace missing teeth)!
One of the most interesting tales is the invention of the first mass-produced toothbrush. In the late 1700s, William Addis was jailed for his role in the Spitalfields riots. While in prison, he developed a prototype toothbrush made from swine bristles threaded through a carved cattle bone, which he saved from his dinner one night. When he got out of jail, he began mass-producing toothbrushes – the forerunners of those we still use today.
Dentistry has never stopped innovating. As technology advances, we’re able to do more and more to improve oral health. Here are some of the technologies that are reshaping modern dentistry in the 21st century.
Intraoral scanners
Digital dentistry is here!
Historically, if you needed dentures or implants made, we had to press putty into your mouth to create a mould. It was a time-consuming, uncomfortable, error-prone process that neither patients nor dentists liked very much.
These days, we use a small, handheld intraoral scanner. In just a few moments, it scans the relevant part of your mouth. It’s far more accurate and much more comfortable.
CAD and 3D printing
Once we’ve got that scan, we use computer-aided design and 3D printing to create personally tailored, custom-made dental restorations.
No two teeth are ever the same. In the past, crowns and implants tended to be ‘off the shelf’ meaning previously dentists had to select the closest fit to your needs and tailor it from there. Now, we can make personalised crowns and implants that reflect the uniqueness of your teeth.
3D printing is advancing all the time. Printers are now small enough to have a place in many dental practices, enabling a quick turnaround for dental restorations. It makes the whole process more comfortable and convenient for you.
Thanks to technology like this, we’re able to do procedures like same-day dental crowns, saving you the inconvenience of multiple appointments on different days.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Scans and X-rays present dentists with a large amount of data – and AI is an excellent tool for analysing it quickly.
AI can support dentists in their decision-making by reading scans and identifying issues such as:
- Cavities
- Periodontal disease
- Oral cancer.
Machine learning is a subfield of AI. The computer program is trained on large datasets where it learns to recognise patterns or make predictions. When your dentist presents it with a scan of your teeth, the AI program is quickly able to recognise whether your images match conditions it has seen before.
Technology at Lillybrook Dental
At Lillybrook Dental, we aim to support you with high-quality dentistry – and that includes making use of the latest technologies to improve patient care and clinical outcomes.
We encourage you to prioritise your dental health as it plays an important role in your overall health and wellbeing.
