Thursday, May 19th was my semi-annual cleaning of the teeth. The hygienist is great and quick. She uses the water thing they use to clean if one has periodontal disease. I do not have periodontal disease but that water thing is really a great way to clean teeth. I do a pretty good job of caring for these choppers so she doesn't have tons to do. But it feels great to get that extra clean feeling and then a tiny bit of scraping on those spots that are harder to reach.
When she finished she wheeled in this little machine. She explained that they are now going to do this imaging annually and today would be my first time. That little blue and white gadget on the post she puts in your mouth and runs it over and around your teeth. While she is doing this it is making a picture of your teeth. She will pause and let the monitor create the image. There are blue spots where the gadget didn't get a clear image. Into the mouth she goes again and fills in all those spots on the image on the monitor. This was just cool to me.
When she finished I asked if I could take a picture for this Blog. She said that would be great. So, here it is people, the inside of my mouth!! Upper right shows a black spot that is where a root canal was done through a crown. It was done in Maryland and seemed fine. We retired and then moved to Kentucky. Then the tooth area went bad and I found myself back at the oral surgeon. It seems there was an additional tiny root that didn't show up when they did the first root canal. So, another root canal in the same crown. You can also see my silver tooth. Funny thing, I have had that silver crown for so many years I don't even remember when I got it. While in Michigan this weekend Raelyn opened my mouth to look inside. Why, I have no idea? But being a good great gramma I let her do this. She found that silver tooth and was fascinated. Even the Mini's find this silver tooth fascinating.
So why do all this imaging and then do it again in a year. As it turns out this is what they will use to make crowns in the future. The dentist will take this image and send it to the person that makes the crowns. With this image they make a crown that is an exact fit. No putty in your mouth and hoping that mold makes the perfect crown, which it often doesn't. Of course they can and will be watching other things in your mouth with these images. They will also still need x-rays to detect cavities, etc. But what a great tool for a dentist to be accurate with what happens in your mouth.
There you have the Latest and Greatest in Dental Technology!
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