Our Dental Technology

Look Good. Feel Great. Smile More.

State-of-the-Art Dental Equipment

You’ll Love Our Treatment Area

In each treatment room there are monitors for patients to view radiographs and watch movies, headphone connections for music and massagers in each of our dental chairs for patient relaxation. There are also individual nitrous units in each room for patient comfort that are digitally controlled, as well as individual dental X-ray units in each room (so there is no moving from room to room) for radiographs.

High-tech Dental Lab and Sterilization Lab

  • Distilled Water Maker: Due to our office being eco-friendly we use a water distiller to produce our own water instead of buying disposable gallon jugs, which reduces waste.
  • Triad 2000 Curing Light: In our office we use the Triad 2000 Curing Light to fabricate acrylic mouthguards, repair dentures, and to make custom trays for larger restorative cases. With this we are able to make and deliver acrylic appliances the same day in most cases.

Laser Therapy

The Ultraspeed CO2 Deka Laser is the most advanced, state of the art laser which is the newest addition to our office. The Deka CO2 laser can be used for many procedures from surgically placing implants to Periodontal Therapy. Medical Practices have been using lasers for years and is it is now becoming the standard care in Dentistry. This new laser has excellent absorption rate in water (soft tissues are 97% water) which assures safety and patient friendly therapy. Most surgical procedures can be performed with little or no anesthesia and minimal bleeding resulting in minimal post operative pain and swelling.

Advantages of Laser Treatment:

  • Bloodless
  • Little or no pain
  • Less invasive than a blade
  • No sutures
  • Less possibility of infected surgical site
  • Less mechanical trauma to surgical site
  • Less post-operative swelling and scarring

Laser Treatment for Periodontal Disease

In addition to traditional scaling and root planing the CO2 Deka laser is used to remove diseased or inflamed soft tissue in the periodontal pocket and treats gum problems to allow re-attachment of the gums to the teeth which helps reduce periodontal pocket depth, bleeding and mobility. The laser is intended to be used along with scaling and root planing to treat periodontal disease.

  • "They really are the best at what they do!"
    Laura E.
  • "I highly recommend seeing them for all your dental needs!"
    Debbie H.
  • "I highly recommend."
    Shanna D.

Soft Tissue Procedures:

Soft tissue procedures that have been done for years with blade and suture can now be done by Dr. Bell with the Deka CO2 laser including:

Frenectomy

There are two different types of frenectomy procedures that can be performed with the CO2 laser.

  • The first being a Lingual Frenectomy, which releases the tongue for patients who are tongue tied, or who have minimal tongue movement. Releasing this with the laser allows more movement of their tongue.
  • The other frenectomy is known as a Labial Frenectomy, which releases the labial frenum which can cause recession and helps continue to keep gums from receding in that area.

Implant Placement: The CO2 laser can be used to place dental implants with out a scalpel or blade making there be minimal bleeding, minimal swelling, no sutures and very little or no pain. (read news article for comparison of blade vs laser).

Biopsies: The CO2 laser can gently remove any suspicious areas of soft tissue with minimal anesthetic and will be sent off to a laboratory to be tested. Little or no pain and fast healing.

Smile Design: Instead of having surgical crown length for those patients who have shorter teeth and show a lot of gum when they smile, Dr. Bell can use the CO2 laser to precisely remove the excess gum tissue to have the teeth appear longer. No sutures, minimal bleeding, faster healing, no scarring and little or no pain. In some cases people still need bone removal which the cannot be performed with the laser. See our Smile Gallery.

Tissue Retraction: When doing preparations for crowns right before the final impression is taken for the final crown most doctors do what is called “packing cord”(the little string that goes around your tooth under your gums) to get a clear impression of the margin of the tooth to insure that the final crown fit properly. With using the laser instead of the ‘string’ it is less invasive to the gum tissue and defines the edge of the margin for a much better impression and less healing time for gums afterwards.

Hyperplasia: In cases for dentures, after removing all teeth for dentures there can be extra tissue that will not let the dentures fit properly. With the CO2 laser we can remove that extra tissue which will give the dentures a proper fit.

We also use two more lasers, which both serve different purposes:

  • One of the lasers is the Sirona Diode laser, which we use for endodontic procedures (root canals). It has a special wavelength that it is set to sterilize the canal/root of the tooth before filling it with a material to seal the canal.
  • The final laser that we use here at our office is called the Diagnodent Pen. It is good at diagnosing decay that might go undetected with a traditional mirror and explorer(the ‘pick thing’) that dentist use to check for cavities and leaking old fillings. We use the Diagnodent pen to check suspicious grooves and stains so that if there is early decay a more conservative filling can be placed.

Lab Equipment

Hydrim L110w SciScan: After placing our instruments into cassettes we run them through the Hydrim SciScan, which washes and decontaminates all the instruments before sterilizing them.

M11 Ultraclave: Auto SterilizerOnce we remove the decontaminated cassettes from the SciCan; we wrap the cassettes and put them in the Ultraclave for them to be sterilized. During the sterilization process the cassettes are heated up to 270 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes and then distilled water is used to steam dry the wrapped cassettes. In our office we have two M11 UltraClave sterilizers so there is no waiting for sterile instruments.

2D and 3D Digital Radiography

Cone Beam 3D Digital Scanner

The Prexion 3D cone beam is a new 3D technology that we have been using in our office since March 2011. We are early adaptors of 3D technology and are very proud and pleased to provide this new innovative service for our patients’ routine dental care. With a 19-second, low dose scan we are able to capture an extremely accurate 3D image that enables us to see anywhere from missing/impacted teeth to bone quality and gum disease.

In recent years the dental field has experienced a profound advancement in technology that our office strives to achieve in order to provide excellent patient care. One advantage of The Prexion 3D scan is that the dosage is up to 10 times less than what is used in hospital settings. The scan operates by having a C- arm rotate 360 degrees around your head; while the arm rotates it is capturing multiple images of your head with different angles. These images are then reconstructed to create a 3D image of your internal anatomy.

Viewing a patient’s anatomy in 3D gives Dr. Bell the ability to diagnose proper treatment that is not possible using a standard two- dimensional digital image. Using the 3D image, Dr. Bell is able to place implants and seat crowns with more ease and accuracy as well as using the image to properly diagnose and identify bone and gum disease. 

Benefits to our patients include:

  • Non invasive
  • Identify jaw tumors and infections
  • Implant planning and placing
  • Periodontal diseases
  • Low radiation
  • TMJ analysis
  • Orthodontic planning
  • Endodontic Therapy

Conventional 2D Digital Radiography

Our office has been using Digital Radiology since 1997, just like digital photography the images are instant, easily stored and easily retrieved. They can also be enhanced for better diagnosis and emailed to specialists or wherever needed. With being digital there is no developing, no chemicals or the worry of disposing of toxic chemicals. With being digital it also means less radiation than conventional x-rays which makes our office never imagine going back to conventional film for our patients.