Supercharging Your General Practice with 3D

In the last year, competition has increased for general practices. The economic downturn has affected production and changed the business of dentistry by driving offices to stronger disciplines when it comes to practice management. More offices have leveraged new technologies, such as digital radiography, to improve efficiencies and move their practice to the next level. However, with the majority of dental offices now going paperless, general practices are posed with new challenges and the need to differentiate their offices from the rest.

A clear path for a general practice to get to the next level is to offer a more comprehensive range of services that could potentially include endodontics, implant dentistry, and orthodontics, to name a few. With the expansion of clinical services come new challenges like the need to equip the office with more sophisticated diagnostic tools. A technology that helps address such challenges is Cone Beam 3D imaging. In particular, modern systems that provide a combination of panoramic and 3D capabilities can meet a practice’s fundamental imaging needs, as well as adding highly detailed 3D views for more complex clinical cases.

Dr. Michael Costello at ConfiDENTAL, a diversified dental practice in Milwaukee, WI., shared his experience in the search for the right 3D system for his office: “I looked at several different manufacturers, and I felt that the quality, price point, size, and field-of-view of the Instrumentarium machine was what I was looking for.”

The Instrumentarium OP300 system allows ConfiDENTAL to improve the quality of services they provided to patients, Dr. Costello explains. “We have always done endodontics in our practice, and over the last five years I have incorporated implants. In the past, I had to refer my patients out for 3D scans. Now, having 3D capability in my office, I see an increase in patient acceptance of treatment plans, and 3D makes me feel much more confident in my final product.”

Cone Beam 3D represents the latest imaging innovation for dental practitioners aspiring to supercharge their practice. Extraoral dental imaging capabilities were first provided over 50 years ago when Instrumentarium forever revolutionized dentistry by inventing the first panoramic X-ray: the Orthopantomograph 1, also known as OP1. This tradition of innovation continues today with the Instrumentarium OP300 Maxio, a refined system that features the combination of powerful 2D and 3D imaging tools to provide the perfect field-of-view in support of the diagnosis and treatment planning of a wide range of clinical scenarios.

The OP300 Maxio provides 3D views that range from targeted, high-resolution 5cm x 5cm 3D scans, ideal for endodontic cases, up to condyle-to-condyle scans capturing the dentition, TMJs, and airway, in one single 3D scan. With clinical trends calling for a more holistic approach in dentistry, having a scalable 3D imaging system that includes multiple fields-of-view, which can aid in diagnosis and treatment planning, is essential. It’s also a smart way to anticipate the future needs of a growing general practice.

Originally published in Sidekick Magazine.