Innovator Profile 2015: Instrumentarium

Q&A wth Dr. Kaveh Ghaboussi, DMD, Madison Smile Solutions and Dr. Dan Indech, DDS, Desert Ridge Periodontics & Implant Dentistry

Q: How does 3D imaging help your practice and you as a practitioner?
DI: Over the years, I have used 3D, but I found myself always referring patients out to scan centers for me to get that information. I would get a disc or a DICOM file and really wasn’t able to manipulate the data as well as I would have liked. But having that information allowed me to make critical decisions regarding jaw anatomy, primarily in my implant dentistry practice. It’s allowed me to make diagnoses on conditions that I wouldn’t have arrived at with 2D imaging or simple clinical examination. Recently, I installed a OP300 Maxio, and it’s taken me to the next level with regards to having the data and being able to manipulate it in a manner that allows me to see what I’m looking for or need to see.

Q: What’s been your experience specifically with the OP300 and the support you’ve received?
KG: There’s an old TV commercial with the washer and dryer repair guy who’s so lonely because no one calls him. That applies here, too! I feel like I haven’t had to use support in all the years I’ve had it. If we have a problem, someone’s here right away and takes care of it. I don’t even notice. It’s a fantastic system. We really haven’t had issues. If we have, they’ve been taken care of right away. And that’s something you want to have-this is going to be an integral piece of your practice.

Webinar: Dr. Kaveh talks about what dental implant planning did for his practice

Q: What do you think is the ROI for dentists, and how does this enable them to expand their case offerings?
KG: There are a few things about ROI that always come up when people visit my office. They ask me how many scans I take every month or how many scans I need to do to pay off the scanner. I always struggle with helping them see the bigger picture. Because the number of scans doesn’t really matter-what matters is that you’re taking difficult four-hour cases and making them one-hour cases. You’ve just saved yourself three hours of doctor time. You’ve made a more efficient appointment. You’ve increased your profitability exponentially because of the shorter, more predictable time. You can see your other patients during those three hours.

The ability to do more complex dentistry is important, too, but even if you don’t, you’ll be more efficient, better and safer at what you do. Are you going to pay it off by doing a bunch of scans? I don’t know! I don’t have a big, busy practice-if you have a big, busy practice, maybe you will, but I know that it’s paid for itself tenfold just by the types of cases we’ve done with it. So I don’t worry about the ROI at this point, because it’s been paid off by efficiency and new case types. If you’re going to look at purchasing a machine like this, it’s going to be a great thing-don’t focus on the number of scans you need. Just focus on doing better treatment with it. The ROI is there; believe me!

One year later: A look at six revolutionary products

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DI: I look at ROI in two ways. In a more narrow manner, I want to know that I’m utilizing that piece of equipment sufficiently to cover the investment I made. But on a broader basis, I look at where we’re going and where we’re at with standard of care and the value of having that information from a diagnostic and protective standpoint-you really can’t put a price or a number on it. What I’ve found in the short amount of time that I’ve had my own machine is that there are cases I previously thought I couldn’t do, but once I got the data and analyzed it I realized I could. That has increased the number of cases that get into my schedule.

On the other hand, there are cases that I previously looked at with other forms of data, and I may have opted to do them, but once I have evaluated them with scan information I’ve decided either not to do them due to risk or to treat them differently. For example, cases with insufficient bone require bone augmentation procedures leading into eventual implant placement procedures. So, on one hand, it’s allowing me to do cases I couldn’t do, and there’s an obvious increase to the bottom line with that, but it’s also allowing me to keep myself safe and out of trouble by managing cases that are difficult, borderline or not doable properly and not getting myself into a difficult situation.

Video: Why one Arizona dentist calls 3D imaging a "game-changer" for his dental practice

Q: What’s the one thing you’d say to a colleague who doesn’t have 3D imaging in his or her practice?
DI: I find the initial expectation for the use of the technology for me was specifically for implant diagnosis and implant surgery. Now I find it reaches far beyond that. I have implemented it with wisdom teeth extraction, for example. We see where the wisdom teeth are in a panoramic X-ray, but on the 3D, you can see the root anatomy, the curvature and the exact location, and from that information, you can much more readily predict how that tooth is best removed. It enables more efficient treatment, fewer challenges and less root fracture or root tip fracture. It allows me to plan the extraction better, and I didn’t expect that I would become reliant on a 3D image for a wisdom teeth extraction. Orthodontic diagnosis is a big area where we’re seeing things we could never see before and conditions that are challenging to diagnose-vertical fractures, perforation defects, lesions in bones-very clearly and coming up with tighter treatment recommendations for those endodontic challenges.

OP300 MaxioInstrumentarium Dental’s feature-rich 3-in-1
ORTHOPANTOMOGRAPH OP300 Maxio is the company’s most advanced imaging system ever. The patented Automatic Dose Control™ technology adjusts the exposure values of 3D scans in real time based on patient specific measurements. The OP300 Maxio also features Low Dose Technology™, which is ideal for dose-sensitive applications. OP300 Maxio also offers five Fields-of-View and allows you to choose the region of interest with complete freedom in positioning. Learn more about these and other features at instrudental.com.

To learn more about the OP300 Maxio, watch the video below: