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Does Your Toothbrush Have an App Yet?


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In a dental college classroom, software shows how patients will look after treatment.

New technologies are being introduced to the world of dental care.

Credit: Karsten Moran/The New York Times

New technologies are being introduced to the world of dental care, such as smart toothbrushes equipped with three-dimensional (3D) motion sensors and artificial intelligence to track the time, frequency, duration, and location of brushing, and alerts the user to areas that have been missed through a phone app connected via Bluetooth.

Among other new dental technologies are digital wand-like scanners that capture real-time 3D images of teeth, bite, and surrounding tissue, as a substitute for cumbersome impression trays and plaster molds. The scanner images can be fed into a CAD/CAM system that virtually designs crowns, veneers, and bridges, which can be milled or 3D-printed in the dentist’s office on the same day.

In the field of orthodontics, augmented reality, scanners, and 3D printers can show patients how they would look with new crowns or straightened teeth.

From The New York Times
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Abstracts Copyright © 2019 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA


 

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