Here’s an example of technology making a huge positive difference in healthcare, with very little fanfare.
While waiting for the dentist to see me during my recent checkup, I asked the hygienist if they had an old printer running a large print job–I could hear a continuing buzz from somewhere in the office. I was imagining a 1970’s style printers with those spiky little wheels feeding long continuous sheets of paper and a dot-matrix ink cartridge zipping back and forth, like those that ran our card batch jobs during my college days (yeah, I’m that old).
Turns out, it wasn’t an OLD printer. She took me into the next room and showed me a device the size of a microwave.
My dentist can now create a custom crown using a 3D printer during one office visit. The system designs the crown using 3D imaging to ensure a good fit in your mouth–no more temporary, ill-fitting crowns. More on the process is here.
So we have a new variation on Precision Medicine–custom crowns designed while you wait. Technology is so cool.
image from “New At The Dentist: 3D Printing Dental Crowns While You Wait”
Gray Connections 
I did not know that! Thanks, Janet.
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My dentist has the same thing. Plus a meditation room with a massage chair to use while waiting for your crown. Throw in a little laughing gas while in the dentist chair and what’s not to like!
My former, really good dentist, was my age and his equipment was decades old. Visiting a new dentist when I left NYC for AZ was like walking into a different universe.
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Also I always wondered why physicians did not administer a little toke of laughing gas during anxious waits, etc
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Our dentist in tiny Potsdam switched to Cerac crowns many years ago, and I’ve got two or three in my mouth. They are amazing! Even in a rural town in a noon-affluent part of the country, a geeky, technology-obsessed dentist can create a practice that is quite exceptional in quality of care.
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Hello, Please remove Michele’s name from your email list. She is deceased.
Michele Shipp omichele1@gmail.com
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I’m so sorry for your loss. Prayers for peace and comfort to those who knew and loved Michele.
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