Welcome to the Dental Arena – Intraoral Dental Viewer vs Intraoral Camera

April 17, 2012

When we built our building in 1994, I tried to put in as much technology as possible given the time.  That included computers in each operatory which put us at the edge for technology.  I bought my first intraoral camera in the late 90’s.  The jump to an intraoral camera was a simple logical step even though the cost was substantial.  So, I tried one before going all out with cameras for each of our 16 operatories.

It failed miserably.  I disliked a lot of things about it but it only lasted a couple of months before being relegated to the basement, never to reappear.  As I look back and try to grasp what happened I can only think of one thing – it was a pain.  Dental technology that slips into our offices without creating any issues is really wonderful.  This simply did not fall into that category.  Since that time, I have spent years looking for a simple solution to the concept of the patient seeing exactly what I see.  I planned on buying it rather than creating it.  Life is funny sometimes.

When I looked at intraoral cameras over time, I saw more of the same issues that created failure in my office.  Complexity, wires, software, training and cost just seemed to be the same.  My concept involved only three things:

                   1. Reasonable Cost
                   2. Crisp Image
                   3. Simple

So the concept of an intraoral camera was abandoned.  Sacrilege?  Hardly!  The concept of a intraoral dental viewer was born.  Unfortunately, we weren’t aware that we had a unique concept until we talked with dental professionals.  We, as practitioners, are so ingrained with the concept of intraoral cameras, this heretic DrQuickLook™ device was stuffed into the intraoral camera category.  It doesn’t belong there.  We should have known that from day one.  IT’S A PATIENT DENTAL VIEWER NOT AN INTRAORAL CAMERA!  When you are writing something it’s hard to create passion without capital letters but there’s real passion behind that statement.   For me, it’s exhilarating and exciting to finally realize what we have.  It’s a unique concept that will change the way you treat patients every single day in your office.  It’s OK to be fascinated with intraoral cameras.  The real fascination will come when the dental community realizes the advantages of a intraoral dental viewer over the intraoral camera.  Simply better!