What is a DIAGNOdent?
Here at Hartwell Dental Excellence it is our goal to help you maintain and improve your oral health. To achive this goal, the dental care you and your family receive in our surgery always includes state of the art equipment. Among the technologies is a small laser scanner called the DIAGNOdent, which scans your teeth for hidden decay. The DIAGNOdent is a pen like probe which simply guides over the tooth surfaces constantly checking the health of the tooth.
Why use a DIAGNOdent?
Locating hidden decay before it destroys tooth structure (from the inside out) is a major goal of modern dentisry. The widespread use of fluoride supplements in dental materials, toothpastes and drinking water has made tooth surfaces harder and more resistant to decay. Traditionally dentist use radiographs to look for cavities in-between teeth and a dental explorer to feel for soft spots in the grooves of the teeth. Unfortunately, there was often some guess work involved. Diagnosing cavities below the hard surfaces is more challenging because the disease pross can start through microscopic defects in the hard surface enamel and can readliy spread into the softer tooth structure beneath the surface.