Why Is It Important for a Periodontist to Have a Cone Beam Scanner?

Your periodontist specializes in a variety of advanced procedures, including dental implant placement. Naturally, their own training and education makes a significant difference in the quality of care they provide, but it’s also important for them to use the most advanced dental technology available in order to ensure a successful treatment. A cone beam scanner is a particularly essential piece of equipment for accurately placing dental implants, and in this post you can learn why.

What is a Cone Beam Scanner?

You can think of a cone beam scanner as the next step beyond digital X-rays. The device rotates around your head and scans the jaw, skull, sinuses, and underlying nerves in order to create a comprehensive model of the mouth. This captures far more detail than your periodontist would be able to get with a normal X-ray, which is particularly important when planning any sort of surgery.

How Does It Help with Dental Implants Specifically?

Implant placement is an advanced kind of oral surgery that is affected by a wide variety of factors. For one thing, because the implants are inserted into the jawbone itself, it’s important to know where specific oral structures are so that the periodontist can avoid inflicting any unnecessary damage during the treatment. The scans also allow them to measure bone density, width, and height as well as jawbone thickness, which can all help determine whether or not implant placement is even a viable option in the first place. Finally, the information gathered with a cone beam scanner can give your periodontist a rough idea of how much time your mouth will need to heal after the treatment.

How Does It Work?

You don’t need to make any special preparations for a cone beam scan; you’ll simply be asked to remove eyeglasses, jewelry, and anything else that could interfere with the imaging process. The scanner rotates around the head a full 360 degrees, taking anywhere between 150 to 200 high-resolution images in a matter of seconds. All of these images are then combined into a 3D model that can be examined from various angles. The entire procedure is painless and noninvasive, and the results are typically highly accurate. And since the device reduces scatter radiation, the resulting image is generally of higher quality.

Does your periodontist use a cone beam scanner for the dental implant process? What other technology do they use at their practice, and how does it ultimately benefit you as the patient? Your smile deserves the very best care available, and you can ensure that it receives such by making sure that the upcoming treatment takes advantage of the latest advancements.

About the Author

Dr. Justin Braga feels very blessed to be able to use his expertise as a periodontist to help rebuild smiles with long-lasting new teeth. He is Board-Certified in Dental Implant Surgery, and he has received a reward from the California Society of Periodontology for his dental implant research. To schedule an appointment at his practice, Huntington Beach Periodontics and Implants, or to learn more about how he incorporates the latest technology into his treatments, visit his website or call (714) 587-9094.