Dental Treatment Goes High Tech

Most of the time it's easy to tell that your tooth is decaying.  You may notice pain, or dark spots, and these provide a clear indication. This isn’t always the case, however.  Sometimes, decay may be present but invisible, and only your dentist can detect it. A tooth may soften or develop white spots on it before decay becomes obvious.
 
You've probably noticed the most common device that your dentist uses to detect cavities. It's called an explorer, and it is a metal instrument ending in a point. Your dentist will also use X-Rays to detect cavities. The explorer and the X-Ray are now being increasingly replaced by newer technological devices for decay detection.

Some of these latest devices/technologies include:
 
DIAGNOdent or Digital Imaging
This device uses a laser to detect the presence of cavities in the tooth. When a beam of laser is reflected on the tooth to be examined, it gives out a fluorescent colored light in response. The amount of fluorescence is the indicator of the presence or absence of some anomaly in the teeth. If a large amount of light is reelected, decay has begun to set in. But in case the fluorescence is not too intense, then you can breathe a sigh of relief –there's no need for cavity treatment just yet.
 
DIAGNOdent's manufacturers claim it has a 90 % accuracy rate and this has been confirmed by studies. Decay initializes from the dentin, which is the under layer of the tooth. This leads the enamel to break and form a cavity. DIAGNOdent helps identify cavities that have begun to set in the dentin, making it a very useful device for a dentist.   
 
DIFOTI
DIFOTI stands for Digital Imaging Fiber Optic Trans Illusion. This technology makes use of a computer to capture images of the teeth under examination in a state where they are being illuminated from behind. The decaying parts of the teeth appear to be darker than those which are cavity free. Digital Imaging Fiber Optic Trans Illusion may seem like an x-ray, but it works quite differently, and is much more accurate than an x-ray. Beside, it does not use radiation which makes it safe for use on certain patients who can't tolerate radiation.
 

Quantitative Light Induced Fluorescence (QLF)
This is the newest technology available in dentistry. The QLF device has four major parts: the fluorescent dye, a light source, a computer to take pictures and the computer software. The camera of the computer is used to take pictures of each tooth, and these images are compared with each other.   A fluorescent dye in the camera detects sections in the teeth that are lacking in minerals. The computer software is then used to analyze the images.  The device is useful to detect early stage cavities. The only drawback is that it has not been found to have a high rate of accuracy.  Moreover, it can even detect a cavity for low risk patients who might not be at a huge risk after all.