Preferred by Patients
According to recent survey data provided by Dentsply Sirona, a leader in single-visit dentistry solutions, demand for same-day dental restorations is high. Among today’s patients:
• 80% would prefer to receive permanent restorations in one visit instead of multiple appointments, with safety being a major factor.
• Over 66% would travel or switch dentists if it meant gaining access to single-visit dentistry.
• 50% would be willing to pay more for same-day restorations.
6 Benefits of Single-Visit Dentistry
- Convenience: Unlike traditional restorations, which require multiple appointments, patients can complete the entire restorative process in a single visit, minimizing disruption to their daily lives.
- Patient experience: Same-day workflows that include digital scanning, CAD/CAM, and 3D printing eliminate the need for messy impressions, uncomfortable temporary restorations, and many times, complications that require repairing or redoing work. The result? A more comfortable and satisfying patient experience.
- Treatment outcomes: Thanks to the precision of digital technology and quality of modern restorative materials, you can deliver exceptionally accurate, esthetic, and durable same-day restorations. This leads to better treatment outcomes in both the long and short term, alongside greater patient satisfaction.
- Productivity: The systems and tools used to provide same- day dentistry are increasingly efficient and intuitive – many require minimal user input, and most can be used to design and fabricate a restoration in just 1 or 2 hours. Subsequently, you save valuable time with each appointment and gain more ability to delegate tasks to team members, as well as focus on patient care and practice operations.
- Cost-effectiveness: By eliminating the need for multiple appointments, impression materials, and laboratory fees, single-visit dentistry can be a more cost-effective solution for both patients and practices. It also allows you to expand your services, which can drive production and profit.
- Practice growth: Offering single-visit dentistry helps attract new patients, affirm patient loyalty, and differentiate your business from the competition, making it a powerful tool for practice growth and success.
Working Together: Solutions for Safer Same-Day Treatment
Although single-visit dentistry circumvents multiple challenges associated with traditional approaches, it doesn’t remove the need to maintain a high standard of infection prevention during treatment. Here are a few complementary solutions you can use to meet this goal:
- High-Volume Evacuation (HVE): When preparing teeth for same-day restoration placement, powered equipment like handpieces generate aerosols. These tiny, individually invisible particles can transmit contaminants from the oral cavity into the air and onto operatory surfaces, where they pose a lingering infection hazard for team members and for other patients. HVE systems counteract this threat by eliminating up to 98% of aerosols produced during dental procedures.
- Rubber Dams: A frequently underutilized solution, rubber dental dams can help ensure better visibility of the working area and also protect the treatment site from microbial contamination. Some studies show that dams can reduce the spread of splatter by up to 33% and decrease surface contamination by up to 99%.
- Saliva Ejectors: Similar to rubber dams, saliva ejectors help create clear and dry working conditions ideal for clinicians. Moreover, they also minimize potential sources of infection by removing pooling blood and saliva from the oral cavity, using low-volume suction. Because saliva ejectors aren’t effective at combating aerosols, to maximize infection control, experts suggest that clinicians pair them with HVE whenever possible.
This blog post originally appeared in OnTarget. Read the full issue and see current highlighted promotions: pattersondental.com/dental/ontarget
