DIAGNOdent: Laser Cavity Detection (bye-bye X-rays and Drilling!)

It’s amazing that with all the advancements in dentistry over the past 100 years, cavity detection has remained virtually unchanged in conventional dentistry. A dental hygienist pokes around with a pick in the grooves of the teeth after cleaning to see if it “sticks”.

Then, a dentist follows up to check these suspect areas and examines a recent set of dental x-rays to confirm the presence of caries. After that, an appointment is made to drill and fill the decayed areas (hopefully not with silver mercury amalgams!).

It is time to relegate this outdated technique to the rubbish pile where it belongs!

At long last, safe cavity detection with no x-rays and no drilling is now possible using the breakthrough device DIAGNOdent.

DIAGNOdent: Modern Device for the Informed Patient

For parents, the ability to now detect and treat cavities without drilling before they cause decay is important. This avoids the repeated exposure of young children’s developing brains to dental x-rays. Even some so-called natural dentists still require a set of bitewings every six months and a full set annually! Sorry, but that is not how a truly holistic and biological dentist practices dentistry!

Dental X-Ray Myths

Attempting to decline x-rays, reduce the frequency of when they are taken or even just request a thyroid guard risks the ire of your dentist. Most don’t like to admit that x-rays are in fact a big revenue stream. Your reluctance to do exactly as they say makes them defensive. So, they throw a condescending line your way when you try to opt-out such as, “Did you know that a banana has more radiation than a set of digital x-rays?”.  Or another favorite, “Walking to your car exposes you to more radiation than dental x-rays.”

While it is true that digital x-rays expose a patient to 70% or so less radiation than conventional x-rays, they are still not without risk. If they were, why does the x-ray tech leave the room when they are being taken? WebMD and the journal Cancer warn that frequent dental x-rays are a risk factor for a common form of brain cancer. (1)

This is not a surprise considering that ionizing radiation exposure is cumulative over a lifetime. You can never “undo” it. Hence, the only smart approach, especially for children with hopefully many decades to live, is to avoid them whenever and wherever possible.

Informed parents know the difference between the different types of radiation on the vast electromagnetic spectrum. The ionizing wavelengths that pass through your skin to allow an internal picture of your teeth and bones are the damaging ones. Radiation from the sun that warms your skin (far and near infrared waves) and induces Vitamin D production (UVB) is necessary to health!

Digital Cavity Detection Using Lasers

This is where the DIAGNOdent comes in.

This groundbreaking device is the epitome of modern, evidence-based cavity detection using lasers instead of carcinogenic radiation. It can be operated by a dental hygienist or a dentist with consistent results. DIAGNOdent is comfortable for the patient – even very young children. It only requires a few short minutes and no anesthesia (not even laughing gas) to scan the entire mouth for cavities and decay.

DIAGNOdent uses a precise laser scanning system to scour the teeth while sending out an audio signal and a digital read-out for the dentist. The laser measures the fluorescence within each tooth’s structure, which allows the dentist to quickly identify where there may be cavities developing in the small spaces between, on, and around teeth and gums.

Fluoride Treatments

Using DIAGNOdent to identify problem spots is particularly important for patients who have had fluoride treatments in the past. It is commonly known in the health community that toxic fluoride therapy reduces children’s IQ. This includes fluoridated water, by the way!

What isn’t commonly known is that fluoride can also cause many cavities to never make it to the tooth’s surface. Toxic fluoride treatments from conventional dentists artificially harden the enamel. While this may seem positive at first, the internal tooth structure remains weak and acidic. The result is cavity-causing bacteria simply begin eating away at the tooth from the inside out instead! The DIAGNOdent laser helps locate these small areas of decay that the old probe and x-ray approach would miss until a far larger problem becomes evident. Crowns and root canals anyone?

No More “He Said, She Said” Cavity Diagnostics

You know how one dentist might say you need 6 cavities filled and then another dentist down the street will say you have no cavities at all?

This is a maddening experience and happens more often than you might think for those smart enough to get a second opinion when a suggested dental treatment plan seems “off”.

With the DIAGNOdent, lasers accurately and consistently detect the presence of cavity-causing bacteria in the grooves of your teeth. Most tooth decay starts in these areas. No cringe-inducing probes or x-rays necessary.

And, the readings from the device are always the same no matter who operates it!

Dental Ozone

If the DIAGNOdent pinpoints areas of your teeth where cavity-causing bacteria have initiated an infection, what then?

The solution at that point is to kill the pathogenic bacteria using ozone therapy. This way, no cavity is ever formed, so no drilling of the tooth is necessary! Even better, the ozone eliminates the acid environment in the tooth. This is a biological state that cavity-causing bacteria thrive in. This way, they don’t just grow right back after treatment.

Here’s how it works according to one dentist who has been using dental ozone for 6 years:

Cavities develop as the environment below the surface of the tooth becomes acidic. Ozone not only kills the acid-making bacteria, it also neutralizes their acidic waste. This creates a new environment that is hostile to the bad streps and lactobacilli that love the acid niche. A new environment allows healthier bacteria to replace the bad ones. If we just kill off the bacteria, they’re back in weeks. But if we get rid of their acid niche, they are gone for two to three months. Ozone treatments at this interval just might keep teeth decay-free indefinitely! (2)

Reversing Cavities?

I’ve written before about how I had success multiple times reversing early cavities in my own children using nutrient-dense traditional foods. Using the DIAGNOdent and ozone therapy can actually encourage this process as well where nutritional therapy has failed. Poor nutrient absorption from compromised gut function is the likely cause when this happens. You aren’t what you eat; you are what you digest!

Once the DIAGNOdent identifies trouble spots and the ozone therapy eliminates the cavity-causing bacteria and the acid environment in which they thrive, positive biochemical changes begin within the affected teeth. Minerals can once again flow back into the tooth from the saliva. The result is hardening of the enamel keeping the tooth healthy and decay-free.

Your holistic dentist can determine the best protocol going forward to keep the teeth this way. This will likely include follow-up ozone treatments and perhaps the use of remineralizing toothpaste or therapeutic solutions that soak into the teeth.

If your dentist currently does not offer digital cavity detection as an option, make your wishes known! If you encounter pushback, don’t hesitate to change dentists if necessary. Customers demanding safe, nontoxic methods for preventing cavities and harmlessly detecting their presence is critical for this treatment to gain traction and go mainstream beyond the small number of holistic dental offices that currently use it.

I get many requests about who I recommend as a truly holistic dentist. If you are looking for one, I recommend Dr. Carlo Litano of Natural-Smiles.com – (727) 300-0044. He sees young children as well as adults. Be sure to tell Dr. Litano that Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist sent you and get 10% off your first visit!