When it comes to tooth decay, early detection is the key to successful treatment. The sooner you find tooth decay, the more likely it is that you will be able to save the tooth. Advanced decay can threaten the health of your tooth and may require extensive treatment. Luckily, at Postle Dental Group, we utilize a Diagnodent fluorescent laser, one of the greatest advances in the world of dental technology to catch tooth decay in its early stages.

About Diagnodent

Diagnodent is a pen-like, handheld tool that is used to scan the tops of your teeth. It is able to find cavities that are easily missed on x-rays and are not visible during a visual dental inspection. Diagnodent uses advanced laser technology to measure the density of your tooth enamel. This effectively helps to identify tooth decay in the depths of the grooves of your teeth. By catching this decay in its initial stage, we can treat the cavity and preserve the structure of the affected tooth.

How Diagnodent Works

Diagnodent technology is simple. Initially, the Diagnodent laser is calibrated by scanning one of the cleaned surfaces of your teeth. Once it is calibrated, each of your teeth will be scanned one by one. Diagnodent reads the amount of laser light that shines into a groove and the amount of light that is reflected back. Bacterial byproducts tend to absorb specific wavelengths of light, and Diagnodent is able to see when some of the light is not reflected back. If enough light is absorbed, Diagnodent will alert us that a cavity is present. This technology also provides specific information about the location of the cavity and the recorded volume of fluorescence can show us how intense the present tooth decay is.

Advantages of Diagnodent

Using Diagnodent allows us to detect the formation of cavities within the grooves of your teeth that wouldn’t be seen on an x-ray. This early detection allows us to protect and preserve your teeth and treat decay before it becomes too serious. Using Diagnodent on your teeth is completely painless and only takes a couple minutes to complete. It is completely harmless to your oral cavity and tissues.

We are committed to giving you the best possible dental care, which is why we utilize dental technologies such as Diagnodent. With Diagnodent, we can find and treat problems early, keeping your teeth as healthy as possible. If you want to learn more about this technology, or are overdue for a dental check-up, give us a call at (614)-850-0446 today.