KAVO KERR AND NOBEL BIOCARE
Treatment Planning with the End in Mind
A single digital platform connecting the treatment team from beginning to end
Technology has helped us eliminate a one-size-fits-all approach to dentistry. Now, intuitive equipment and devices allow us to choose a treatment workflow that best reflects our clinical preferences, practice setup, and, most importantly, our patients’ needs. The result is twofold: a higher level of care for the patient and a smoother workflow for the dental team.
It used to be the case that the only patient-imaging data were film x-rays. Today, between 2D radiography, CBCT scans, digital impressions, clinical images, and before-and-after photos, the amount of imaging data per patient has exploded. But although these tools share space in the operatory, they don’t necessarily share the same workflow.
As a manufacturer of cutting-edge imaging equipment and devices, KaVo Kerr has changed the game with its DTX Studio suite—a single digital platform that connects treatments from beginning to end. Through it, connect your practice’s 2D or 3D imaging unit, digital sensor, intraoral camera, scanner, or caries detection device, and tee them up directly from the software to acquire images.
Imaging in One Place
Dr. Parag Kachalia, who practices at Innovative Dental Concepts in San Ramon, CA, uses a variety of KaVo tools to capture patient-imaging data— including the KaVo OP 3D Pro for CBCT, DEXIS Titanium sensors for 2D imaging, and the DEXIS CariVu caries detection device. Before using DTX Studio software, Dr. Kachalia said the influx of imaging in dentistry over the last decade was both a blessing and a curse.
“One of our struggles in using multiple imaging technologies was toggling back and forth between software platforms or screens to build a treatment plan for a patient,” he said. “Now, DTX gives us a hub where all of these images can be viewed on one screen and we don’t have to close one image to get to another. It’s not just that the images are stored in the software—it’s like you’re a pilot in the cockpit.”
DTX Studio software is applicable from routine to complex cases. Clinicians like Dr. Kachalia can use the same platform to look at both a cone beam fi le for an implant placement, or a patient’s CariVu images to assess their caries index and decay profile. This also reduces the chance of missing information, because all patient data are viewable at once.
“All of this data are combined in a single session on a single screen. I can also create and bookmark treatment steps so that it’s easy to jump from one step to the next,” Dr. Kachalia said. “From a diagnostic standpoint, this capability is fantastic.”
"DTX Studio suite gives everyone involved in a case the tools needed to plan with the end in mind- function and esthetics."
-Parag Kachalia, DDS
Patient Understanding
In the past, clinicians relied on third-party videos or animations to illustrate a patient’s oral condition and propose a treatment plan. Now, they have the ability to educate patients on their oral issues based on what’s happening in their own mouths.
“We live in a very image-centric world where patients are used to seeing photos of things—whether on Instagram or in their daily lives. The days of ‘my doctor told me to do something and that’s why I’m doing it’ are fading,” said Dr. Kachalia. “DTX gives me a hub to show patients all of their data on one screen and make sure their questions are answered so that they fully understand treatment.”
While patients may not fully grasp how to read a cone beam file or periapical x-ray, they begin to understand more when they see pictures of their own teeth.
“If I import extraoral photos into DTX and then have the cone beam and PA images organized right above them, both myself and the patient can see 7, 8, or 9 frames of information at once and it really starts to make more sense for them,” Dr. Kachalia said.
Patients are provided with comprehensive treatment steps so that they can visualize an end-to-end solution and feel secure in their choice to proceed with treatment.
A Communication Hub
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but only if you can share that picture with your treatment network.
“I work with a lot of specialists, and of course the lab, so now I have a communication hub from a specialty standpoint where all parties can look at the same data and comprehensively plan things,” Dr. Kachalia said, adding that many of the labs and specialists he works with have been trained in the Nobel implant system and DTX software, which simplifi es the planning process.
During implant planning, for example, while an oral surgeon is examining bone height and width to achieve implant success surgically, the dentist is looking at intraoral photos and tissue profiles to achieve implant success restoratively. DTX brings these two worlds together by showing data that are important to each clinician and making the surgical component of treatment less complicated.
“DTX takes all the different image acquisition sources we have today and gives clinicians a way to systematically store them in one place, back them up, and then go through a planning phase with them—starting with the diagnosis and leading all the way up to guided surgery,” said Dr. Kachalia. “It gives everyone involved in a case the tools needed to plan with the end in mind— function and esthetics.”
A Fully Connected Treatment Suite
1. Capture Patient Data
• DTX Studio Suite connects with the technologies in your practice, such as 2D and 3D imaging units, digital sensors, intraoral scanners, and intraoral cameras.
2. Diagnose, Plan, Design
• DTX Studio Clinic securely acquires and displays all 2D and 3D patient-imaging data in your practice with one software and seamlessly connects to diagnostic workflows or treatment partners.
• DTX Studio Implant allows you to plan implants for major implant systems according to a patient’s anatomy and prosthetic requirements.
• DTX Studio Lab offers open design workflows and desktop or intraoral scanner input for fabrication of restorations in-house or via the lab.
3. Simplify Production
• Produce restorations, models, or surgical templates in-house or connect with labs to create prostheses that are in line with your preferred surgical protocols.
