Why Integration Is The Key to Dentistry Technology

In the past few decades, significant advances have been made in new dental technologies. Information technology or IT has always been a special hotbed of innovation. The number of computer equipment and functions in dental clinics has soared.

As a result, the offices of many technically minded dentists look like miniature technology parks. On the hardware side, computer workstations, network cables and server infrastructure cover this approach. At the same time, the clinical operator can have one or two computers access to the practice management system, independent computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing or CAD/CAM equipment; intraoral cameras; portable dental unitwith compressor; and any number of specialized equipment and computerized teeth Week probe. In terms of software, the situation is similar. Many dentists use a variety of procedures for hands-on management, digital imaging, capturing clinical data, and supporting all aspects of diagnosis and treatment.

Although it is still possible to practice dentistry without a computer, information technology has become the lifeblood of many practices. In the administrative field of practice - billing, insurance processing, treatment tracking and planning - computers are almost everywhere. In the clinical arena, computers are making significant progress. Based on data from ongoing research, we now know that approximately 25% of general dentists in the United States use computers by their chairs. However, in many practices, the use of chairside computers is limited to areas of clinical documentation, such as mapping, treatment planning, and occasional recording of progress records.

One of the main reasons why dentists are reluctant to adopt clinical computer technology to a greater extent is the lack of integration of information technology with the clinical work environment. This lack of integration can bring significant costs. First, it significantly reduces productivity significantly. Dentists who must perform four separate operations to display an intraoral image on the screen will spend more time and apply more Both cognitive and physical efforts are faster than the dentist once the camera is removed from its cradle, and its intraoral camera with screen automatically displays the image on a computer monitor. Lack of integration also increases the likelihood that “can't work together”, which has enabled many dentists who upgrade their software applications on their computers to prove this.

Many times, upgrading the practice management system can result in incompatibility with other software components. Therefore, the dentist must spend time and energy to get everything working smoothly again.