Gold Coast Smiles now offers a remarkable new technology that creates virtually limitless views of the teeth, neck and surrounding anatomy, for more complete treatment planning. In addition to digital radiographic equipment, we have made another significant investment in you, our patients and are proud to offer our own in-house state-of-the-art dental cone beam computerized tomography (CT) scanner 3D imaging (CBCT).
This 3D Cone Beam Imaging is fast, simple and completely painless. With a single 15-second scan, we can quickly see computer-generated views of the jaw bones, the teeth, and other details from any angle, in 3D! The CBCT allows us a greater understanding of our patients and moving imaging beyond pure diagnosis to include planned treatment simulations and image guided treatments. 3D imaging greatly improves our doctor’s abilities to accurately diagnose any dental condition. The detailed diagnostic images that CBCT provides have made it an essential tool in many of our treatments, particularly in the field of implant dentistry.
Raising the Bar on Standard of Care
Cone beam imaging has become our standard of care for dental implant treatment planning as Dr. Sami & his clinical team understand and value the importance in possessing accurate and complete information to plan your treatment. 3D Dental Imaging provides that information, with a host of advantages for you and your clinical team to benefit from. Compared to conventional, X-rays, CBCT scans can better differentiate between several oral tissue types. This includes bone, teeth, sinuses and nerves. Research has demonstrated the benefits of CBCT over routine dental radiographs in diagnosis of maxillofacial pathology, bone loss, root resorption of teeth, bone fractures of the jaw, implant placement, and more.
Diagnostic imaging is an important part of implant dentistry and at Gold Coast Smiles we utilize CBCT 3D imaging to ensure safe and predictable treatments. In many of our implant cases we consider the 3D planning process using CBCT to be critical. After all, proper planning equates to Predictability. You are a three dimensional being, and any implant surgery should be planned in a 3D manner to accurately plan around important anatomical structures and promote precise positioning of the implant.
Our patients benefit from CBCT 3D imaging for dental implant planning and placement in the following ways:
Precision Placement: CBCT allows surgeons to accurately measure and asses the available jawbone present. Conventional X-rays only allow us to asses the height of the bone since they only provide us with a 2D image of the jaw. Since CBCT provides us with a 3D image of the jaw, we can assess both the height and the width of the bone available for use. These measurements are then used to create a virtual placement of the implant with precise positioning and sufficient bone coverage. If our assessment finds that bone is deficient, we will then take the appropriate steps to augment and build up the bone prior to placing the implant fixture. The key is acquiring the information we need to place the implant where it best supports the restoration while keeping it in healthy and abundant bone. If that is not possible, we want to know this information ahead of time and take the proper steps to correct it. CBCT gives us the ability to do this without compromising patient results.
Proper Orientation of the Implant: We use CBCT technology to create a virtual model of the patient's teeth and jaw. This digital model is then studied and used by Dr. Sami and the surgical specialist, in collaboration, to design the proper bite and precise position of the implants to support the planned restorations. This prevents misaligned implants, which may be difficult or impossible to properly restore later in the process, and avoids poor esthetics and function that go hand in hand with misaligned or improperly oriented implants.
Prevention of Injury to nearby Anatomical Structures: CBCT advanced imaging allows us to collaborate with the surgeons we work with to accurately identify and map out the path of the sensory nerves in the jawbone. This enables us to select the right implant size that will avoid coming into contact with nerves and other vital structures and thus safely avoid possible harmful complications. This is much more difficult if not impossible to achieve with conventional x-rays since they contain an ample amount of distortion that leads to poor diagnostic imaging in identifying the exact positioning of nerves and their canals. CBCT promotes a much more safer and predictable surgical procedure for our patients.
Selection of the right implant size for optimal support: Implants come in a variety of shapes, sizes, widths and lengths. The longevity and long term success of dental implants require maximum stability and integration in the jaw bone. During our planning stage, CBCT allows us to achieve accurate measurements of the available bone in differing 3D planes. We then use these measurements to select the optimal width and length of the implant to be used. To put it simply, CBCT allows us to plan for and select the widest and tallest implant appropriate for the site we plan to restore. By selecting the proper dimensions of the implant consistent with your anatomy, this in turn helps support your bite forces and avoid potential complications from overloading the implant with bite forces they cannot handle.
At Gold Coast Smiles we strongly believe implant placement should not be guesswork or approximated at the time of surgery! Dr. Andrew Sami plans his cases around precise measurements, biological requirements, bite considerations and individual patient needs.
With our in house CBCT 3D imaging technology, we can achieve an unparalleled level of accuracy and communicate these results with our surgical specialists during our pre-planning stages. In conjunction with proper treatment planning and pre-surgical preparation, CBCT 3D imaging provides our patients with safe, predictable implant care in addition to enhanced diagnostics so all our patients are accurately diagnosed and efficiently treated from the first time. Rest assured, when you come to Gold Coast Smiles for your dental care, there will be no guesswork involved.
