The Forefront of Dentistry—Promising Tech-Innovations and New Treatments

Abstract

Change in our world is happening quickly. For dentistry, this is no exception, and now is the time to foster new opportunities. Advances in the foundational science of dental, oral, and craniofacial health are expanding and enabling personalized care built on strong discoveries in the fields of microbiology, immunology, and neuroscience. Digital communication through electronic health records, patient portals, and teledentistry is emerging as vital new armamentarium for contemporary dental practice. Wearables linked with smartphone apps are trending to monitor pain levels, postoperative symptoms, wound healing, and home oral health habits. Oral fluid diagnostics are rapidly surfacing for use in diagnostics, drug testing, and hormone detection. Manipulation of the oral microbiome is under investigation for caries management and for potential impact on systemic conditions. Resolving mediators of inflammation are promising for addressing the chronic inflammation that plagues periodontal patients. New imaging modalities paired with digital approaches and 3-dimensional printing are formulating disruptions in the technical aspects of dentistry. Augmented reality and virtual reality are providing great potential as teaching tools for dental students and bear promise for lifelong learning for providers. Optimization of information technology and the incorporation of data science partnered with artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve patient care in a learning health care system approach will benefit large numbers of patients. These are exciting times for our profession, yet we need to navigate these paths carefully. Technology needs to significantly and positively change the experience of those involved (patients, dentists, staff, payors). New technologies need to be backed with solid research and implementation science. Automation should focus on improving care with attention to expanding care to the underserved and not lose the critical human connection that our patients need. There is great potential in the emerging innovations yet also great responsibility to ensure they are evidence based on rigorous science and deployable with equity and sensitivity. Knowledge Transfer Statement: This article discusses innovations in technology and treatments that have enormous potential to revolutionize our dental care, including novel concepts in electronic health records, communication between dentists and patients, biologics around diagnosis and treatment, digital dentistry, and, finally, the real-time optimization of information technology. The early implementation and validation of these innovations can drive down their costs and provide better dental and medical services to all members of our society.

Oral health for baby boomers: Past, present, and future

“…72 The hope is that soon this technology will be precise enough to provide an accurate description of the periodontal anatomy around the teeth thus aiding in implant placement planning. 55…”

“…Probiotics are also being considered for their use in the management of periodontal disease. The theory for the strategy was previously described in the caries discussion 55,70 . Another strategy involves “specialized pro‐resolving mediators” such as resolvins and lipoxins, two lipid mediators that are naturally produced and facilitate the termination of inflammation.…”

“…Saliva as a biologic fluid allows for testing of drugs, diagnosis of some conditions, and checks of medication compliance and hormone levels 81 . Saliva‐based diagnostic tests for caries and periodontal disease have shown some promise, however, these tests are not yet approved for use in the United States 55 …”

“…The process would begin with probiotic noncariogenic bacterial strains being implanted in the mouth to replace cariogenic Streptococcus mutans strains, shifting the biofilm from a pathologic profile to one that is non‐pathologic. As some of these are bacteria naturally occurring in dental plaque, they qualify as “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS) organisms and therefore could be used to prevent caries 55 …”

“…A new imaging technology being explored is Doppler ultrasonography, which could be used to evaluate the resulting blood flow of tissues at implant and palatal sites after soft tissue augmentation with grafts 72 . The hope is that soon this technology will be precise enough to provide an accurate description of the periodontal anatomy around the teeth thus aiding in implant placement planning 55 …”