New technology is changing the way endodontists serve patients, according to Alexa Martin, DMD.
Dr. Martin recently took over ownership of Martin Endodontics in Beverly Hills, Calif. She recently spoke with Becker's about her practice, the trends she's following in the endodontics field and how technology is affecting patient care.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What trends are you following in the endodontics field?
Dr. Alexa Martin: The two biggest misconceptions about endodontics are that it's going to be painful and that all the X-rays we take are really bad for you. Those are the biggest trends in how things have been changing over recent years. So in terms of pain, everybody the second you say, "Oh, I'm going to go get a root canal," they're like, "Oh no, that sounds horrible," or "They're going to torture you." But it's become so much more minimally invasive. It's the standard of care to be using a microscope. So we're not drilling through the tooth like crazy. We use 3D imaging to plan out how we're going to do it ahead of time, and just the techniques we're using to rinse out the tooth and seal it off are a lot less irritating. [Sonendo's GentleWave system] just gets everything so much cleaner. It's this little device that you hook up to the tooth and it runs for about eight minutes and it flushes all this cleaning solution through the tooth, so it's squeaky clean and you end up with less post-op pain and less drilling inside the tooth. The change in technology that we use is the biggest trend that I see.
In terms of imaging and the X-rays, the misconception is that we take all these X-rays and expose you to dangerous radio waves and all that, but the X-ray unit that we use these days is so minimal and it focuses just so much on the tooth that they're actually about to get rid of the lead apron. You don't even need the lead apron anymore. It's so isolated. As an endodontist, it's the standard of care to get this 3D image of the tooth you're looking at before you work on it ... The ones we're taking are so focused right on the tooth that the 3D scan is basically like getting two regular dental X-rays. It's not that much and it gives us so much more information looking inside the tooth and seeing where all the canals are and where the infection and inflammation is that we can plan a lot better for treatment by taking these.
Q: What challenges are endodontists facing today?
AM: The biggest challenge is that endodontists can't do all of the endo in this country. There are areas where there are not endodontists and the general dentist is doing a lot of the endo and in Beverly Hills, almost none of the general dentists are doing endo. They're specializing a little more in cosmetics or just general dentistry. Some general dentists need to be doing some endo to get it all done, but it's hard because they don't always have access to the technology that we do as endodontists. They don't typically have a microscope in their practice. So you can only be so good. The microscope is considered a standard of care, but then if the general dentist is doing it without one, is it below the standard of care? That's a little bit more of a challenge, educating the general dentist and making sure they're doing the best they can to provide endodontics to their patients and still be able to use the latest technology.
Q: What goals do you have for your practice?
AM: So I actually just fully bought the practice last week from my dad. I've been there for four years, but I am wanting to implement some of the newer technologies, like GentleWave, that will be coming. I think it's going to add a huge value to my patients. Technology comes out, everyone's resistant to it a little bit, but it's been around long enough and we've seen the studies and the results of how well it works and how much it minimizes post-op pain that I think the general dentists are going to understand the value of it more. [I'm also] working on rebranding the understanding of root canals in general to the general public because implants have kind of taken over. You see commercials for implants on TV and everyone thinks it's so easy to just get an implant and that a root canal is so bad for you that I just think we're finally in the phase where we can kind of change that and educate people. Once they come into my office, every single patient is like, "Oh my gosh, that was so easy. That didn't hurt. I can't believe you have all this technology." So one of my goals is to educate everybody on that.
Q: What is most exciting to you about being a practice owner?
AM: Giving my dad a break because I work side by side with him every day and the amount of things that he's had to keep up with, from going from paper charts to digital and paying bills and payroll being digital, as I was taking over, I was realizing, "Oh, this is why you come in at 6 a.m. every day because you've got all this paperwork to do." I've spent the last couple of months really dialing in at getting everything digital and having all my systems run on autopilot. I have a great IT company, SurfCT, that is my biggest supporter ... My dad never had that, so it's nice to see him relaxing a little bit and his job now is just to come to work and do the endodontics and I can kind of streamline everything else for the practice.
Q: What is most exciting about the endodontics field today?
AM: I just think how much the technology has grown [and] just the amount of how easy we're able to make it for patients these days. It's not like going to an old school dentist and it's torture. It's something that people are starting to understand as part of your health. You typically go to the doctor once a year and then you go when something hurts, but with dentistry, you go to the dentist and a lot of times something doesn't hurt, but people are starting to understand they need to see the endodontist and the way we can handle these infections is a lot easier these days.