Imaging system helps gain patient acceptance and eliminate surprises

“There were other machines that had excellent 3-D, but not the panoramic radiography — they were just reconstructing the image, which means you lose information,” Robin said. That’s why we selected the CS 9300 from Carestream Dental. With the CS 9300, you get both the 3-D and panoramic radiography, with excellent quality for both.”

The practice acquired the CS 9300 in March and immediately put it to work. “It is very easy to obtain very good images,” Robin said. “There was not a significant learning curve, even though the staff had no experience with 3-D imaging. With it, we can do any image and any field we need.”

 

After just a few cases, Robin was able to complete work-ups in three minutes. “That’s all it takes to create a virtual implant placement to show to patients or to show the nerve position against a third molar,” he said.

Improving communications

One of the greatest advantages offered by the CS 9300 has been the ability to show patients a 3-D image of the area to be treated, Robin said. “When I show patients their wisdom tooth in 3-D, they can see the proximity of the nerve or the cyst in the jaw. They can see the teeth, nerves and jaw, and the pathology in it. And they know exactly what I am going to do and why I need to do it.”

Robin said that patients frequently want to see “after” pictures as well, due to their fascination with the technology. “They have far fewer questions now, and there’s a higher degree of acceptance.” Robin also praises the ability to quickly share a digital treatment plan with the referring dentist by simply emailing a few images. “Two clicks and the email is sent,” he said. “Two minutes later and I’m on the phone and they can see what we are discussing.”

Wider field of view

For Robin, whose oral surgery practice includes trauma patients, the ability to obtain a 17-cm-by-11-cm image is important. Not only does it give him a view of the complete maxilla and mandible, but also the condyles, the orbits and the zygomas.

“All the fields of view are valuable,” he said, “if you asked me to select one size to eliminate, I couldn’t do it.”

The surgical team is also happy with the intuitive software that meets their needs without being overly complex. “I use 90 percent of the functions on a regular basis,” Robin said. “None are too complicated or unnecessary.”

Streamlining surgery

“Before we had the CS 9300, we would encounter surprises during surgery,” Robin said. “We could anticipate difficulties and plan to work around them, but we were never sure exactly what we would find. Now we know exactly what to expect. You know in advance if the patient is going to need a bone graft rather than discovering it during the surgery. There’s less of a struggle for the staff this way.”

As an example of how the CS 9300 saves time, he references an impacted tooth. “While you would normally approach an impacted tooth from one side, it may be that the opposite side gives you better access. You can visualize it in 3-D and see what was hidden before. For the patient, this reduces the length, degree or invasiveness of surgery so there is less swelling and trauma and therefore a faster recovery.”

Robin trained with 2-D imaging, and said he is glad that he had that experience prior to the move to 3-D. “I can do the same job with 2-D and 3-D, but the 3-D gives me more confidence. There are a lot fewer surprises.”

Patient acceptance

In his oral and maxillofacial surgery practice, Robin likes to have an initial consultation with the patient followed by a second visit for the surgery. At the beginning of the second visit, a scan is performed and then used to discuss the procedure with the patient.

“I have never had a time that I scanned a patient and showed it to them where they asked why they had to spend for a scan,” Robin said. “Seeing the images educates the patients and gives them a lot of confidence. And they like that we can definitively tell them what to expect in advance.”

About the CS 9300

The CS 9300 has seven selectable fields of view and image resolution up to 90 µm, and has both dual-modality panoramic and 3-D imaging with exceptional detail and range. The fields of view range from 5 cm by 5 cm to 17 cm by 13.5 cm, and the system includes intelligent dose management through collimation, faster scan times and intuitive imaging software.

(Source: Carestream Dental)