Virtual Consultations
We understand that it’s not always possible to take time out of your busy schedule. That’s why we offer virtual consultations. The consultation process is easy. Simply snap a photo of your smile and upload it to our site, along with your smile goals. We’ll review your goals and your smile and send you a personalized video detailing our recommendations. After viewing the video, schedule an appointment with us to achieve a brilliant smile.
Digital Scanning Technology
A intraoral scanner to create digital dental impressions of the mouth. The files can even be merged with CT scanner data to construct surgical guides and even design the final restoration.
In-Office 3D Printing
We use 3D printing technology for various applications in our Irvine dental practice. Our in-office 3D printer helps us create custom orthodontic aligners, comfortable and accurate dentures, retainers, and, in some cases, dental restorations.
The availability of this technology in our office makes your appointment faster and reduces the waiting time for certain dental services.
Orthodontic Advances
Orthodontics has been used for hundreds of years, but the dental technology and techniques we use today are nothing like those employed just a few years ago. We offer Invisalign, which uses an algorithm to break your orthodontic treatment down into a number of short steps, then manufactures clear plastic aligners designed to accomplish those steps. No metal, no wires, and they’re completely removable. We also offer Six Month Smiles, which also uses computer planning to optimize orthodontic treatment. Although it uses brackets and wires, these are not traditional braces, and they benefit from advanced materials and advanced techniques to make your orthodontic treatment faster and more convenient.
If Invisalign and Six Month Smiles are both too slow, you may be a candidate for AcceleDent Accelerated Orthodontics. The AcceleDent Aura uses gentle vibrations to greatly speed up the process of repositioning your teeth into your ideal, healthy smile.
The Inman Aligner is a completely different approach to teeth straightening, which uses springs to guide your teeth from both sides. It can achieve results in a very short period of time, perhaps as short as six weeks.
Digital Smile Design
This approach allows us to use sophisticated computer analysis to better plan Invisalign cases, allowing us to achieve a better, more reliable result.
Cosmetic Smile Simulation
Do you want to know how your new smile will look before you commit to cosmetic dentistry? The good news is Smilevision allows us to simulate what your smile will look like, using the same designs we will use to guide your final restorations.
Shadewave Computerized Color Matching
Although the human eye can detect subtle variations in color, not everyone’s eye is as precise as we might desire. Add variable lighting in your mouth, and it becomes difficult to be sure you’ve got the exact match. But Shadewave takes out all the guesswork and uncertainty, allowing us to precisely match the color of your restorations to the rest of your teeth.
Dental/Facial Analysis Technology
This allows us to analyze the best position for your teeth scientifically. Allows us to get cosmetic dentistry, orthodontic, and implant dentistry results that look good even when your mouth is closed, and amazing when you smile.
BioClear
BioClear is a new approach to dental bonding. Using a flowable composite and a slender mylar guide, we can essentially cast new restorations right around your natural teeth. The flowable material fills in voids around teeth, making it especially good for eliminating black triangles around the base.
CBCT
Our in-office CBCT machine. Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) has become essential dental technology. Where traditional x-rays give us just a flat image, and panoramic x-rays just give us a larger flat image, CBCT is able to give us a three-dimensional image of your bones and teeth. This can be vital for planning root canal treatments and dental implant placement and can even help us understand the exact causes and effects of your TMJ. This allows the procedure to be planned more precisely, leading to safer surgery, and we have it under our own roof–no referrals.
Self-Contained Water Lines
This complex filtered system of water supply guarantees pure water supply, much safer than simply using the city water system.
Laser Cavity Detection
In the past, dentists poked and prodded your teeth with sharp metal hooks. Today, fewer dentists do that, but that just means that they are relying more on their vision, which is a very inexact detection method for cavities. We use a laser cavity detection system that allows us to find cavities that are invisible to the naked eye and may not show up on x-rays. Since metal fillings block x-rays, detecting cavities around them can be difficult, but the dental technology of laser cavity detection allows us to find them. It also allows us to more accurately verify decay before we start treatment, so we won’t accidentally drill a healthy tooth.
Multi-Step Numbing Technique
We have worked for years to get the most painless technique possible. We start with a custom compounded topical anesthetic that doesn’t just have one but three different anesthetics in it. It is much stronger than the basic topical used in most dental offices. We apply the topical to “numb it before we numb it.” Then we give another very small dose of a special non-acidic anesthetic that is more painless than all the other types. Then finally, we give strong anesthesia into an already numb area of your mouth. We daily get compliments on our painless injections.
DNA Testing
We have learned that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of oral bacteria species living in your mouth. And we’ve learned that only a small number of those species are actually responsible for gum disease. DNA testing allows us to create a profile of what bacteria are living in your mouth so that we can get a better idea of your gum disease risk.
CariFree
CariFree is an advanced cavity prevention system designed for people who have tried the brush/floss/regular checkups routine but aren’t getting results. CariFree uses an advanced approach and comprehensive lineup of options to deliver cavity prevention throughout your day. If you are someone at high risk for cavities because of your genes or your lifestyle, CariFree can help.
Microabrasion
Sometimes there’s so little decay on your tooth we can literally blow it off with microabrasion. This is the least invasive way to treat decay, as it removes only a tiny amount of tooth enamel, and it preferentially targets what’s been weakened by decay. It’s so painless that you won’t need any anesthesia–no shots required!
VELscope Oral Cancer Detection
Oral cancer is highly treatable when detected early. VELscope allows us to detect oral cancer earlier than in the past. It takes advantage of the fact that cancerous and precancerous cells respond differently to a certain light, giving off an eerie glow that we use to find them.
Laser Dentistry
Lasers have many beneficial applications in dentistry. We utilize two different laser technologies in our office. First, we have a diode laser, which allows us to perform laser gum disease treatment and gum recontouring without using a blade to cut your gums. There’s less discomfort and less bleeding, and the laser can kill many of the bacteria in the area, helping control infection.
We also have Waterlase, a laser that also uses water to remove tooth enamel without the need for a loud, grating dental drill. This can make for more comfortable dental treatments and can reduce incidental damage to your teeth.
Have any questions about the technologies we offer and how they can improve your dental treatment? Please call (949) 551-5902 for an appointment with an Irvine cosmetic dentist at Rice Dentistry.