Why Choose Board-CertifiedThere is so much new and exciting technology available in the field of orthodontics, and I like to share with our patients and the community when we invest in something that makes their treatment more comfortable, more efficient, safer, or increases the quality of their experience or their end result. Below are two pieces of technology that we recently added two our two locations in Castle Rock.
One of our employees is a full time laboratory technician who makes our retainers in house, which means that we rarely have to order appliances (such as expanders, retainers, space maintainers, etc…) from outside sources. This is a great advantage to our patients, as we can turn around and fabricate retainers within a day, where it often takes up to two weeks when using an outside laboratory. We recently added a Drufomat Scan Pressure Machine to our laboratory. This machine is the same unit that large, professional laboratories use to make custom retainers, and it will largely replace the machines that made our vacuum formed retainers. The Drufomat machine uses very strong positive pressure to evenly and more accurately form plastic retainers to fit your teeth more precisely. Well molded retainers are more comfortable, fit more snugly, and reduce the need to re-make retainers that don’t quite fit perfectly. This technology also uses bar code scanning for the specific type of plastic that is used, and automatically sets the proper heat, time, and pressure to largely eliminate human error and variation that was unavoidable with the traditional machines. Geeky stuff, but our patients are really going to like the new retainers that they receive.
We have been using optical-digital scanning to largely replace the amount of traditional, goopy impressions that are needed in our office. It has been almost one year since we first upgraded our first scanner to the new iTero Element. This scanner uses a hand-held wand with advanced optics to scan our patients teeth, which replaces the goopy impressions that are taken before and after treatment. It is also used as the only record needed to treat our patients with invisalign. We simply scan our patient’s teeth (our technicians can do an entire scan in under 2 minutes!), send the information to invisalign, and the process is immediately started for me to set up the patient’s case for orthodontic correction. No time is lost in the mail, and when touch-ups are needed, it immediately gets the needed information to invisalign for any detailing that I need accomplished for my patient’s teeth. This technology has been a huge time- saver, has greatly increased patient comfort by elimination impressions, and is completely safe (this is optical technology- there is no radiation!).
If you are interested in further details on how the latest technology we utilize can improve your experience with orthodontics, please give us a call at Meadows Orthodontics. I will be glad to give you a tour and explain what is the best option to get a new, amazing smile!
Dr. Dan Rejman is the owner of Meadows Orthodontics in his hometown of Castle Rock, Colorado. Dr. Dan travels extensively for continuing education and seminars throughout the year, and places a priority in keeping his two Castle Rock practices state-of the-art for patient comfort and safety, and to increase treatment quality and efficiency.