Technology offers more convenient service for dental patients

With absolutely no offence to all the dentists in the world, for many people a trip to the dental office isn’t always a favourite on the list of things to do. However, with some fantastic new technology at Brightside Dental Care they are doing what they can to make their patients experience as comfortable and convenient as possible.

Brightside Dental Care, owned by Dr. Larry Cogar and Dr. Scott Mather, opened in Brandon in 2011. For a number of years they’ve been using newer technology and equipment that allows them to offer an efficient, same day service for patients requiring crowns.

Dr. Mather said that crowns and bridging are a proactive and preventative way to ensure that people are able to keep their teeth for a lifetime. He personally does 800-900 crowns every year using the new technology and explains how the traditional method isn’t always convenient for the patient.

“The traditional model of doing a crown involves getting the patient in to prepare the tooth for the crown, the patient leaves with temporary crown while the moulds or impressions of their mouth are sent off to a lab. After a two to three week wait, the crown comes back from the lab, the patient comes back to the office and then things are swapped out and the permanent crown is cemented in. This means multiple visits and possibly more freezing, which is fairly inconvenient,” said Dr. Mather.

Meanwhile, with the Cerec software program and the CAD-CAM technology used at Brightside Dental Care, the team can provide same day service for crown work with great results.

“In under two hours we can prepare the tooth, scan the tooth with our digital scanning wand and then design the permanent crown using a computer program. The design is then sent off to our in-house CNC milling machine where solid blocks of porcelain get milled out to the exact specification of what was scanned and designed,” said Dr. Mather. “I can then cement the crown and in about two hours the patient leaves with a permanent crown. It’s convenient, but in addition the fit and finish is amazing. When you have a digital scan, the crown is perfect.”

Brightside Dental Care is the only dental office in Brandon currently offering this service. Dr. Lauren Davies, Dr. Nathan Vercaigne and Dr. Quin Rusnak work alongside Dr. Mather, along with 10 other members of their professional team. Brightside Dental Care is located at 144-6th Street, with a satellite office in Shilo. They also have locations in Portage la Prairie and Gladstone.