By viewing your teeth and restorations with a computer enhanced intra-oral camera and monitor, we can enlarge the image by up to 40 times, greatly enhancing our ability to see problems and recommend treatment at the earliest, most preventable stages. By projecting these images onto the monitor, we can also share our observations with you, so that we can co-discover, co-diagnosed and discuss the best treatment options.

This technique provides you the patient, a close up of you to your teeth enabling you to see the current status of your teeth. Dr. Noto uses a specially designed intra-oral camera which is a tiny video camera that is designed to take up images and area of low light. (The cameras are actually the size of a pen or dental drill.) The images picked up by the camera are magnified many times and displayed on a nearby television monitor. When Dr. Noto sees an area in the mouth that needs closer inspection, the video image can be "freeze framed." We can even imprint out a hard copy for you-so you can put it on the refrigerator next to the picture of your kids.

The camera has many uses in Dr. Noto's office. Since the camera magnifies its images within the mouth, Dr. Noto can more clearly see any tiny irregularities that could be missed with an unaided visual inspection. The intra-oral camera helps with co-diagnosing the following:

Early stages of gum disease can be detected more clearly with the magnified images of the camera.

Images from the camera can be used to educate the patient about his/her dental condition.

The camera can be used to allow dentist and patient to plan or monitor progress of treatment.

The camera also seems to make people less intimidated of the dentist and dental treatment.

The camera validates the need for treatment for insurance companies.

The camera is useful to help plan esthetic treatment for the patient.

Many dentists believe that the intra-oral camera will eventually become a standard diagnostic tool in dental offices.