Call: 204-947-0247

Technology

Technology

Digital Intraoral Scanner

We utilize digital intraoral scanners to create precise digital models of your mouth in 'real time' during your dental visit. Digital scans are faster and provide incredible accuracy, in turn, delivering higher quality results. These scanners eliminate the need for traditional impression materials, offering a more comfortable experience. Intra oral scanners are easy to disinfect, ensuring we are providing the best care possible.

Infra-red Transillumination

With our digital scanners, we use infra-red transillumination to inspect your teeth for developing cavities. This technique relies on a specific light frequency and does not require x-ray radiation.

Digital Scanners for Advanced Treatment Planning

Digital scans allow us to generate precise 3D dental models, improving record-keeping and treatment planning.

Wellness Scans

Teeth grinding and jaw clenching, or bruxism, are commonly associated with stress or anxiety.

  • Individuals often engage in these habits unconsciously, particularly during sleep, intense concentration, or stressful situations.
  • Digital wellness scans can reveal patterns of bruxism and track their impact, including gum recession.
  • If we determine that you grind your teeth, we can design a custom protective dental appliance using scan data from our on-site laboratory.

Digital Xrays

Investing in digital radiography has been crucial for detecting, diagnosing, and treating dental problems. Digital x-rays, a modern alternative to traditional photographic x-ray film, generate improved computer images that benefit various dental procedures.

  • Minimize radiation exposure - Up to 90% less radiation exposure compared to conventional x-rays, making them a safer option for dental imaging.
  • Digital x-rays provide instant results without any waiting time for development, and with no need for chemicals to develop the image
  • Allows for image enhancement to zoom in on specific areas of interest
  • Simple sharing of images with other dentists or specialists for advanced dental care needs
  • Convenient storage of dental records for future reference and comparison

In House Lab

CEREC utilizes CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) technology for swift digital teeth impressions. This technology can create accurately fitted dental restorations such as crowns, inlays, and onlays using advanced dental ceramics. When integrated with our digital scans, CEREC enables us to carry out various dental procedures in a single day. Furthermore, the blend of our technologies eliminates the necessity for conventional putty impressions or temporary crowns, leading to a more comfortable and streamlined dental treatment process.

Airway & Sleep

iDental offers a variety of dental appliances to help patients manage and reduce the symptoms of snoring and sleep apnea, as well as other airway and sleep related disorders.

Utilizing a pharyngometer, rhinometer and digital impressions, we can create custom-made mouth guards to fit your unique smile.

Our custom-made appliances feature a slim design for patient comfort high, and are durable, odorless, tasteless and biocompatible.

The Pharyngometer simplifies the process of measuring a patient's pharyngeal airway size and stability. It visually presents the relationship between the airway's cross-sectional area and distance within the airway in centimeters using acoustic reflection technology, similar to a ship's sonar.

  • Sound waves travel down the airway and bounce back, enabling the Pharyngometer software to assess changes in the airway's cross-sectional area.
  • This minimally invasive test can be completed in 2-5 minutes.
  • Sleep Disorders Dentists utilize the Pharyngometer for preliminary patient screening, with narrow airway readings indicating higher Apnea Hypopnea Indices upon diagnosis.
  • Post-diagnosis, the Pharyngometer helps track airway changes in response to mandibular advancement, effectively ruling out 95% of patients who would not benefit from oral appliances.

Data from Pharyngometer and Rhinometer tests is presented on a user-friendly graph.

The Rhinometer offers a quick and simple method of assessing nasal passageways. Using acoustic reflection, the device gathers information.

  • Sound waves are directed through the nasal passageway, reflecting back to accurately map out the nasal airway's structure.
  • This non-invasive test can be completed in just 30 seconds, providing clear identification of any airway obstructions.

Oral Cancer  

Oral cancer is often deemed the “forgotten disease,” because it kills more people than testicular cancer, cervical cancer and cancer of the brain each year and receives little publicity in return. Each year, over 30,000 Americans contract oral cancer, and only 57% of these people will live for more than five years without treatment.

Many people believe that if they abstain from tobacco and alcohol use, oral cancer will not affect them. Tobacco and alcohol use does contribute to oral cancer; however, 25% of those diagnosed abstain from both substances.

The best way to stay protected from oral cancer is to get annual oral cancer screenings. Most dentists perform an oral cancer exam during a regular dental checkup. The FDA-approved VELscope® offers dentists another examination tool to help detect oral cancer in its earliest stages. The VELscope® is a blue excitation lamp, which highlights precancerous and cancerous cell changes.

How does the VELscope® work?

The VELscope® uses Fluorescence Visualization (FV) in an exciting new way. Essentially, bright blue light is shone into the mouth to expose changes and lesions that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. One of the biggest difficulties in diagnosing oral cancer is that its symptoms look similar to symptoms of less serious problems. The VELscope® System affords the dentist important insight as to what is happening beneath the surface.

The healthy soft tissue of the mouth naturally absorbs the VELscope® frequency of blue light. Healthy areas beneath the surface of the soft tissue show up green, and the problem areas become much darker.

Here are some of the advantages of using the VELscope® System:

  • Can be combined with digital photography.
  • Detects lesions, white and red patches.
  • Detects problem areas that cannot be seen under white light.
  • Exposes precancerous and cancerous tissue.
  • FDA-approved.
  • Helps dentists check that diseased soft tissue is completely removed.
  • Helps diagnose oral cancer in its earliest stages, exponentially increasing the chance of survival.
  • Quick, painless examinations.

How is the VELscope® examination performed?

The VELscope® examination literally takes only two or three minutes. It is a painless and noninvasive procedure that saves many lives every single year.

Here is a brief overview of what a VELscope® examination is like:

Initially, the dentist will perform a regular visual examination of the whole lower face. This includes the glands, tongue, cheeks and palate as well as the teeth. Next a pre-rinse solution is swilled around the mouth for slightly less than a minute. The dentist provides special eyewear to protect the integrity of the retinas. The lights in the room are dimmed to allow a clear view of the oral cavity.

The small VELscope® is bent to project blue light inside the mouth. Lesions and other indicators of oral cancer are easily noticeable because they appear much darker under the specialized light.

If symptoms are noted, the dentist might take a biopsy to determine whether or not this is oral cancer. The results of the biopsy dictate the best course of action from there. Otherwise, another oral cancer screening is performed in one year’s time.

If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to schedule an appointment, please contact our Winnepeg dental office today @ 204-947-0247. Click here to schedule your appointment online. We look forward to providing you with the personal care you deserve.