About The Significance of Diagnosis of Dental Problems
Diagnostic Dentistry is a procedure that helps dentists identify oral health issues before they become costly, painful or time-consuming.
The correct diagnosis is the key to the successful treatment of any problem. More often than not, a tooth-ache in any tooth, leads to a loss of function of the entire side, and the pain seems to be originating from multiple sites. This inherent feature of tooth-ache makes a precise diagnosis of the problem all the more necessary. Only when the exact tooth or group of teeth have been identified, can a correct treatment plan be formulated and executed.
An experienced and well qualified clinician should have the acumen to undertake a good clinical examination and factor out all the relevant history the patient provides. Along with a thorough examination, the clinician has to almost always rely on radiographic details (X-Rays) of the site of the pain.
This is where the paradox comes to play. As mentioned above, dental pains seem to originate from multiple sites (known as referred pain), thus making it difficult for the dentist to pinpoint the real site for a regular dental X-Ray. This drawback has been made easier with the help of technology and innovation by the way of the Panoramic X-Ray. This is carried out by a very specialized high technology machine, so that the patient’s entire upper and lower jaw bones, including all the teeth and the jaw joints, plus all the surrounding related structures can be seen on one X-Ray film much like a ‘wide angle camera’ view. It is a very fast and convenient procedure taking only a few minutes, but the result can help the dentist and in-turn the patient in a very precise and correct diagnosis of the dental problem faced.
One would ask, why is this not a regular feature with all dentists?
This is because of the lack of availability with dentists of the Panoramic X-Ray machine or OPG machine as it is called. As mentioned earlier, it is a very high tech. machine, hence not easy to install and operate. There lies another obvious problem, ‘economics and know-how.’ Even in a bustling town like Gurgaon, there are only a few functional machines available, most of them available only with diagnostic radiological centres, which make it difficult to send patients there every now and then. Dr. Bhim Sains Dental Clinic is equipped with an OPG X-Ray facility to provide for the patients the most precise diagnosis and the most suitable treatment.
Now CBCT machines are to scan the being used to scan the whole mouth. This machine is capable of having a bone scan which will be a help in diagnosing impacted teeth and act as a guide for the placement of dental implants.
