Innovation in dental treatment

Natural smiles designed and manufactured by computer

The Silmi Dental Institute is one of the reference centers in the field of dental implantology and aesthetics. Nowadays, technological advances within this sector open the door for specialists to achieve high quality treatments, using minimally invasive techniques and with excellent aesthetic results.. Computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) have a lot to do within this field.. To learn more about these revolutionary advances, we spoke with Dr. Silmi Macias, medical director of Instituto Dental Silmi, consultant in worldwide research of leading brands in the market.

How do technological advances influence the field of dentistry?

The meteoric advance of science and technology has touched the field of dentistry, leading to great progress in recent years. Technological advances help us achieve more favorable results, in the search for a beautiful and healthy smile, adapted to the naturalness of each patient.

What are these advances?

They provide us with a new work tool as an essential tool for diagnosis , prevention and dental treatment. With computers, their programs and associated devices, such as intraoral cameras, dental analysis programs in 2D and 3D, and dental planning, they improve, improve and guarantee the accuracy and speed in treatments of implantology, orthodontics, guided surgery and prosthesis by CAD CAM.

What are the benefits of these advances?

In our Dental Institute, we strive to achieve the maximum aesthetic, since a careful smile provides elegance, confidence and self-esteem. That is why we avoid placing metals in the mouth, replacing them with ceramic materials. We prefer high precision crowns , personalized , that will give us a warmth of color, translucency and depth in the face of the challenge of achieving maximum aesthetics at the moment of the creation of a new tooth.

How do you get all these advantages?

With the obtaining of 3D images prior to the realization of the treatments, by means of digitalized impressions, which avoid the patient the annoying buckets of taking measures. These digitized impressions are sent through a digital program that provides us with the form, measurement and precise adjustments to carry out the interventions with rigor.

We have talked about this treatment in crowns and veneers, but can it be used in patients who do not have teeth?

Thanks to these advances, and CAD CAM system , can be used both in natural teeth and teeth that are placed on dental implants. In the latter case, the design of the surgery can be performed through software that guides us for the correct placement of the implants, making the patient not post-operative and resulting in a minimally invasive treatment. For the placement of the teeth on the implants, the same system is followed as for the natural teeth, achieving an exemplary precision in the adjustment of the structures and aesthetics.

Is it advisable to remove the metal from our mouth?

In the past, dental treatments with metal were performed, which gave us optimal results. But nowadays, with the technological tools that we have and the expert hand of our specialists, whose mission is to guarantee the naturalness of the treatments, almost all the treatments are made without metal.

If metal is avoided in the mouth, what happens with orthodontic treatments?

The creation of a perfect smile is based on a good function, position, shape and color of the teeth. This function and position is achieved with different orthodontic treatments. The most common are the metal brackets , but in certain cases, if a patient needs to take this type of treatment, they could resort to invisible orthodontics. This treatment consists of a series of transparent and removable aligners that are manufactured individualized and personalized, through a 3D virtual treatment plan, which will allow us to see, before starting the treatment, the final result of our smile and to be able to decide if it is the design more correct. The shape, if it is not appropriate, we can achieve through ceramic crowns and composite or porcelain veneers of maximum aesthetics. As for the color of the teeth, it can be achieved with a teeth whitening, which allows us to lighten dark or yellowish teeth.

What type of patients resort to invisible orthodontics?

The invisible orthodontics is performed for all types of patients, adolescents, adults or elderly, with mild or moderate dental irregularities. For people who, due to their lifestyle, work commitments or any other need, find it difficult to carry fixed appliances. They resort to this treatment since it is practically invisible, you can perform brushing and perform your masticatory function normally during treatment. In addition, by not carrying metal, do not irritate and do not cause discomfort or injury to the mucous membranes and gums.

The field of dentistry is in constant progress ...

One of the biggest advances now is the study of prevention, with the creation of a vaccine against dental caries. Another field in advance is nanotechnology applied to dentistry. The use of nanoelements that could be smaller than the nucleus of a cell, and that will be able to access places that are impossible to reach manually or with other technologies. They could be used to destroy the bacteria that cause dental caries, for the early diagnosis and treatment of oral pathologies, to develop new local anesthetics, renature dental pieces, permanently treat dental hypersensitivity, complete orthodontic readjustments during a single visit to the consultation, even for the ongoing maintenance of oral health using dentirobots. As for the stem cells, either of dental origin, pulp, either of medullary or embryonic origin, they present common cellular markers that could regulate the formation of dental tissues, enamel and dentine, among others.

Are you starting to apply these new techniques?

All the avenues of investigation that we have mentioned present restrictions, moral, ethical and religious. This makes their progress slow and present certain obstacles in their development.