No drilling, no pain - Non-invasive caries treatment via ICON #dentaltip
Dear fellow Steemians!
"I hate this sound, the vibrations and all the water in my mouth". Getting a filling at the dentist is not a pleasant experience for most of the patients. You get an anesthesia to get rid of the pain during the treatment but what about the noises? Yes, you can use noise-cancelling headphones or play music in the background but that will not eliminate the sound entirely. Sound is conducted via air as well as via the skull. The effect is called "Bone conduction". That's the reason why we can't get rid of the high frequency noises during the treatment.
So are there any other options beside a regular bur? Yes for sure. To my knowledge the market offers at least three different options:
- Chemicals, which resolve caries
- Lasers, which destroy the infected tooth structure
- A technique called "resin infiltration"
Today I want to focus on the resin infiltration. The product to go to is called ICON and is produced by DMG. How exactly does this technique work and when can it be applied?
Caries, also called tooth decay, is a multifactorial disease, which destroys the tooth. 4 primary components are needed to create an active caries lesion:
- carbohydrate substrate
- micro-organisms
- susceptible tooth surface
- time
When all four are present, a caries can be created. Most of the time the caries starts in between the teeth, proximal area, or in the pits and fissures. In some cases with bad hygiene the caries begins on the "smooth" surface - for example on the front facing side of your upper incisors. The first signs of caries are demineralized spots. We call them "white spot lesions". The surface doesn't show a cavitation yet. When the caries is in this early stage "resin infiltration" is an option. Most of the time the lesion is detected in dental x-rays which are called bitewing radiographs. In the x-rays you can see little "dark" spots in the enamel in between your molars.
As said above four components are needed for caries to exist and progress. By using ICON we stop the supply of carbohydrate substrate and infiltrate the existing lesion with a special resin. This way we preserve the "healthy" tooth structure, don't have to use a drill and postpone the need for a dental filling for years.
ICON was brought to the market in 2009 and the technique is backed by numerous worldwide studies. For years dentists had just two options in cases of early caries: Treat it or wait and see. In patients with really good compliance and regular use of dental floss, the "wait and see" technique worked fine. But with ICON you can actually intervene on a scientifically backed basis.
The second field of use are cases of white spot lesions on your front teeth, sometimes found after a fixed braces for example. The white spots could be an esthetic problem. The infiltrant creeps into the surface and changes the color this way.
As you've read the advantages of this technique are great. We use ICON for many years now in our office and the results are positive. I used it for family members and good friends and I'm really satisfied with the results.
To check if ICON is suitable in your case, please contact your local dentist. For further information you can check out the sources that are provided below.
Thanks for reading and I hope this way we can safe some teeth a little longer😀.
ICON is a registered trademark.
Sources:
DMG America
Wikipedia
Images:
Ariana Prestes on Unsplash
Aaron Lee on Unsplash
Adrien Ledoux on Unsplash
Sebastian
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While at this topic I came across an interesting dental concept spear headed by Dentacoin, a decentralised blockchain solution for the global dental industry. The cheapest coin on coinmarketcap and has risen considerably from its bootom price. I see much potential once it gets mainstream adoption:
Link: https://dentacoin.com/
Just to share
#nkkb
#teammalaysia Member at Steemit.
#mentormemtee with #zublizainordin and #nkkb
@OriginalWorks #originalworks
https://steemit.com/@originalworks
@t3ran13
Hello!
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What business field are you working in?
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By the way
My name is Nik Khamsani, from Malaysia. A retired helicopter pilot and don't know what to do with the rest of my life. So here I am trying to spend the rest of my life into the Steemit Space.
Should you decide to up vote and follow me (that is of course, if you find my post worthy of it) I will gladly do the same. Thanks and have a productive days ahead.
#nkkb
#teammalaysia Member at Steemit.
#mentormemtee with #zublizainordin and #nkkb
@OriginalWorks #originalworks
https://steemit.com/@originalworks
@t3ran13
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