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Dentistry Goes Digital

Gone are the days (or soon will be) when dentists had to ladle quantities of goo into patients' mouths to take impressions for the construction of crowns, bridges and implants.

Instead, exciting new high technology has been developed that will do a two-minute digital scan of a patient's entire set of teeth. Once the information is captured by an electronic wand the dentist passes around the teeth, it's delivered to a dental lab where milling machines hooked up to CNC (computer numerical control) devices are used to craft the artificial dentition, most of which is now made from zirconium dioxide. In the past, gold and platinum had been the materials of choice.

"As you can imagine, patients will love this new technology, especially children, because it''s painless, comfortable, much faster and more accurate," said Mike Girard, who owns Quantum Technologies and Integrated Dental Services, based in Windsor, Ontario.

What his two companies have done is essentially to have adapted auto industry technology to the dental field. Steve Drouillard, once a moldmaker for a Windsor auto parts supplier, joined Quantum two years ago and now uses his CAD/CAM talents to create artificial dentition.

"I saw the future of the local parts industry, and it didn't look rosy," said Drouillard. "A lot of the concepts are the same, but when you're dealing with people's teeth, the tolerances are much tighter, so it' been a challenge and an adjustment."

Girard said he's already introduced Quantum's scanning technology into the United States, and the $25,000 systems will be available to Canadian dentists soon.

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