One Patient’s Journey Through A Dental Transformation

Dr. Weinberg’s Cosmetic Dentistry, Dental Transformation

Several weeks ago, Scott came into the office for a Zoom Whitening treatment.  He was very excited with the results and began to talk with Dr. Weinberg about how he could improve his over-all smile.  Scott was given a treatment plan for a dental transformation and graciously allowed us to chronicle his visits.  This is a video series that follows our wonderful patient, Scott through his various visits.  As you scroll down through this post you will be able to follow along as Scott’s smile will be transformed with the cosmetic dentistry skills of Dr. Weinberg.

We Begin With The 3Shape Trios Digital Scanner That Replaces Hard To Handle Traditional Impressions

Digital technology has become an integral aspect of most endeavors, and dentistry is no different. The latest technology takes previously manual efforts and revolutionizes them, with a net result of easier predictive efforts, and a far more rapid process from start to finish. Dental professionals have been looking to technology to update their efforts for over a hundred years, but digital technology may well be leading to the largest improvements in the history of the profession.

In this video below, Dr. Weinberg uses the 3Shape TRIOS Scanner. With this tool in hand, a dental professional can scan a patient’s teeth digitally, removing the need to take a manual impression of the mouth. While impressions have always been useful, the process can be quite uncomfortable for the patient and even lead to a patient gagging. These concerns will soon be a thing of the past.  Our patient, Scott has the opportunity to view his mouth and the reconstructive concepts that will be suggested to improve his smile.

Just as a side note, the popcorn sound you hear in the background is the sound of the scanner.

A Unique Experience

Scott has a very unique opportunity due to the digital scanner.  He can see the 3D scans on Dr. Weinberg’s computer and not only have a conversation with the Dr. but the lab technician too about the shaping of his new smile.  This gives the patient an amazing opportunity to be in control and communicate his ideal smile not only to Dr. Weinberg but to the lab as well.

The computer screen that Scott is looking at is in Dr. Weinberg’s office. However, it is being remotely controlled by Joe the technician at the dental lab just a few towns down the road from Dr. Weinberg’s office. This 3D image was taken several months back with the 3Shape Trios digital dental system that can be viewed in the first video of this post.

In the next video, Scott has just gone over the cosmetic dental plan with Joe, the technician, and Dr. Weinberg. Here, Scott is making his next appointment and discussing tooth color with the doctor. Scott’s next appointment is scheduled for next month. We will be following along to see how this treatment turns out.

In this segment, we continue to chronicle the cosmetic dentistry process with our very willing patient Scott.

The Bonding Experience

Scott has a tendency to grid his teeth. This has caused the edges of his teeth to be a bit rough. Scott has some broken edges across his bottom teeth and also on his top eye teeth. It was determined that we would do bonding on the bottom teeth rather than cap them. We also did a bit of dental bonding on the upper eyeteeth.

Scott returned to Dr. Weinberg’s office to receive his temporary crowns on the upper front teeth.
Also, there has been some bonding done on Scott’s lower teeth and Dr. Weinberg felt it would be a good idea to create some new scans
with the digital scanner provided by Ryan from Henry Schein Dental.
The temporary crowns were made by Artisan Dental Laboratory and once Scott has a chance to feel his way through the new teeth, he will have the opportunity to visit with Artisan Dental Laboratory and go over any changes he might want to be included in the permanent set of crowns. It is very cool to allow patient participation in the dental transformation process.

Artisan Dental Lab

We thought it would be fun to take a field trip over to Artisan Dental Lab so that you could see the process of this particular case from the other side, the lab side.  We think it is also worth noting that when a patient receives any sort of dental lab work from Dr. Weinberg’s office, it comes from Artisan Dental Lab and they have a big role in the dental transformation.  Why is this important?  Well, many people who receive crowns, bridges, implants, dentures, and other sorts of devices have no idea what materials these are made of and they especially do not know where and who made them.  These devices that are inserted into patient’s mouths can often come from Mexico, China, and even some low-cost facilities in the US that cut corners to keep a competitive edge.  This price-cutting tactic is not always known to the patient but the results of inferior products been placed in the mouth can create problems ahead.

Scott is Ready For The Final Step

Today Scott will receive his permanent crowns.  They came back from the lab perfectly milled and are ready to be placed permanently.  This is the final step for Scott. Watch the video below to see what he thinks about his new dental transformation.  He is smiling!