STATE COLLEGE — Dentistry is digitizing.
Gone are the days of chart files that are inches thick and waiting for X-rays to develop. Dentist offices are moving to modernize.
While this benefits dental offices by organizing and simplifying charts and scheduling, it also has benefits for patients by simplifying processes.
“We’re just getting better results when you’re getting scans,” said Dr. Aaron Roan, who has practiced with White Roan & Associates Family and Cosmetic Dentistry for about 10 years.
X-rays are changing. Now, a plastic digital sensor is used to scan the teeth and give a more immediate image, cutting down on the time patients spend in the office.
“We try to reduce the amount of time people can sit in a chair because, number one, most people don’t want to be here and, number two, the less amount of time you have them here, the happier they are,” said Roan.
This digitization is also making the time patients spend in the office more comfortable in the case of making molds for crowns, bridges and orthodontia.
“It’s translated from the mouth right to the person that’s making it as opposed to going through a model stage,” said Roan. In simpler terms, this benefit means avoiding the moments spent with teeth stuck in the often uncomfortable “goop,” as Roan called it, used to create a mold of the patient’s teeth.
Another move toward convenience has been the increased use of clear Invisalign trays in place of metal braces to straighten teeth. “It’s a good marketing thing for people to hear. ‘Oh, I can get braces without actually having to wear braces,’” said Roan.
Roan was born in State College and returned to the area to attend Penn State University after growing up in other states. He sees a diverse range of patients of all ages from the surrounding towns, as well as graduate students at Penn State University from all over the United States and the world.
His patients range in levels of care they have had available to them. To Roan, one disappointing change locally is the removal of fluoride from water sources, such as in Bellefonte and Tyrone. He said this change will negatively impact patients of lower socioeconomic status.
While the local effects will require long-term observation and investigation, Roan has seen negative impacts, such as increased levels of cavities, in locations such as Altoona that don’t have fluoride in the water.
“We see people from Altoona come up here to work and what have you, and they have a history of having a lot more cavities up here,” said Roan. “I think part of it is fluoride in the water.”
Fluoride treatments are available, usually for children under age 15 or 16, at Roan’s and many other dentists’ offices, but that is a cost that is negotiated by insurance policy.
Roan worries that removing fluoride will cause more issues in the oral health of children who already have a decreased chance of going to the dentist because of a lack of money or insurance. While he openly admits that he chose the dental field for its stability, he does not wish the business that more cavities might provide.
“I’d rather see people without cavities,” said Roan. “I would rather people have healthy mouths.”
