Using Advanced Dental Technology to Improve Your Dental Experience

Rapidly evolving dental technology has allowed for vast improvements in patient experience. At Gulf Coast Periodontics, we are dedicated to providing the highest level of care. We have invested in tools such as BioLase Express, LANAP, and CEREC for our Victoria, TX, practice. Dr. Rick H. Heard and his team incorporate these technologies into treatment whenever possible to provide increased precision, gentler procedures, and exceptional outcomes you can rely on. 

Benefits of Advanced Tools 

We believe that advanced tools can play a vital role in achieving optimal oral health. Using the latest dental technology provides many benefits such as: 

• Accurate diagnosis
• Improved comfort
• Precise treatment
• Shorter recovery

We are proud to offer modern solutions that can make your treatment more pleasant.

Our Technology 

Our practice is equipped with several crucial pieces of technology including: 

Digital X-Rays

Not only do digital x-rays emit lower levels of radiation than traditional x-rays, they also provide highly detailed images that allow us to diagnose oral health concerns like gum disease and jawbone atrophy, as well as determine if oral medicine is the best solution in certain cases. Digital x-rays also make it much easier for patients to visualize their oral health, laying the groundwork for more thorough education about their dental health and improved decision-making for their treatment. 

Cone Beam Computed Tomography

In addition to the higher quality imaging capabilities of digital x-rays, we also use cone beam computed tomography (CT) to gather 3-D images to view your teeth, bone, nerves, and jaw. This is especially valuable when planning dental implant surgery. Using 3-D images, the doctor can evaluate your bone density and other factors that will determine whether preparatory procedures such as bone grafting are needed, as well as where implants should be placed.

Rapidly evolving dental technology has allowed for vast improvements in the patient experience. 

CEREC

CEREC is a powerful tool that can be used during both the planning and implementation phases. First, CEREC can take digital impressions, eliminating the messiness of traditional impressions. Your impressions then serve as the basis for a surgical guide. Dr. Heard will use this guide during your implant surgery to place the posts at the exact location in the jawbone that will provide the most durable results.

CEREC is also an in-office milling machine. With this, Dr. Heard can design and fabricate customized, secure abutments which connect your dental implants to the restoration of your choice. If you are a candidate for same day dental implants, it can also create a custom healing prosthetic in a single visit.