Dr. Gunadi Wibowo - Interview - Intraoral Camera

Dr. Wibowo, you were all excited the other day about something you got on eBay, what was it?

I got a little boxing day gift for myself to play with, it’s an intraoral camera, off eBay. It was $35 with shipping. Came all the way from China, as most things do these days, I suppose.

I seen those ads popping up on my ads now after you started talking about it. They are listening, you know. Ok, aren’t those medical devices only to be operated by professionals and dentists?

I guess, but they are all over eBay and Amazon now, so it’s no big deal anymore. Not only do they work well, they are also affordable. I bought it to play around and to test it out because it is wireless and cordless. The ones in the clinic are connected via USB and are more expensive. They link to our dental imaging software for record keeping purposes and patient education chairside at Uxbridge Dental Care. Intraoral photos of teeth, gums, tongue and general oral anatomy forms part of our record keeping. It is also a good diagnostic tool, especially for patient education. The photos were very clear, bright and most of all, the head of the device is very small. About the size of a yellow No.2 pencil.

That’s a great photo of the tooth, what’s that upside down “mitten” shaped looking metal thing? Is that your tooth?

Yep, that’s one of my upper molar that’s got an old silver amalgam filling. A fellow student did that filling when I was in dental school, almost 30 years ago. I was terrified (nervous laugh). But it all went well and that’s what’s left after all this time. I should probably get that replaced one of these days with a new composite filling. Need to find a qualified dentist to do that. Can’t do the upper fillings myself. You know, and it’s upside down.

Do you do those white composite fillings at Uxbridge Dental Care?

Yes of course, at Uxbridge Dental Care, we replace those silver amalgams routinely with composite resin fillings. Silver amalgams are a mixture of mercury and silver, it is a stable material. But over the years it has gotten a really bad reputation because of the mercury and it being metal. Silver amalgams are actually very durable and strong but over time, they do crack. It is not uncommon to see teeth crack because of them. They are generally not done anymore. Nowadays, tooth colored composite fillings are pretty much all we do these days, no more of those silver amalgams. I suppose sometimes I do temporary fillings with a different materials as well, such as in root canals. Those are sometimes called IRM (intermediate restorative material) or Cavit. They are both white material I guess.

Can the camera be used to detect oral cancers or look for cancers? What’s that got to do with dentistry?

Hey thanks for bringing up a very serious topic. Oral cancers screening and detection part of our dental exam at Uxbridge Dental Care, and good record keeping has got everything to do with dentistry. It allows for better and more accurate diagnosis, but in some cases early and timely diagnosis. These things pop up, you’ve got to have them checked out. Oral cancer screening is part of the intraoral exam at Uxbridge Dental Care. We have a really thorough checklist of things we go through in your new patient exam and recall appointments to check teeth and soft tissues of the oral cavity. We will also do head and neck area exams, thyroid area of the neck for example as part of extraoral palpation that I routinely perform on patients.Sometimes finding things lead to a need to do biopsies, or a referral to a specialist. The intraoral camera is a great tool for recording any anomalies in the mouth, discolorations, lumps, bumps, and everything else. It’s fantastic for patient education and to make aware of things from time to time. It is also good to send an image along with a specialist referral when that is called for. And there is nothing wrong with self examination, so that you know more about your own body and health. Don’t panic if you spot anything, the internet can be a scary place for “over-information”. It’s best to come in for an opinion if you’re unsure of what you see. Give Uxbridge Dental Care a call, we will look after you.

Do the dental hygienists use the intraoral camera for their work too? I feel it would be a good tool for them too.

100%. The hygienist uses them all the time to show patients before and after type photos. Definitely for patient education, because seeing is believing, most of the time. You should interview our dental hygienist Kal Sangha next time about periodontal health and intraoral cameras. Kal Sangha also comes from over 25 years experience in dental hygiene. She is a very experienced hygienist and will shed some useful info on this subject. At Uxbridge Dental Care she is the lead hygienist and also does her consulting services as well to mentor other hygienists and clinics.

That’s a great idea for the next topics. Was the intraoral hard to set up on the iphone device? Did you have to read the manual to do that?

It wasn’t too bad, instructions were really vague, but I fumbled through the setup and it started working. There is a super speedy tutorial video they have online. Basically you have to find it on your LAN and then allow access. Voila! You have a portable intraoral camera on an iPhone.

Was that the same iPhone 6S I gave you for Christmas? The broken one?

Yes, it was that broken one, thanks tho. I changed out to a new screen and battery, it looks brand new! And works really well. I’m going to link it to an old iPad next. This is a pretty good thing to have around the house too, in the event you need to check on things in the mouth, such as a broken filling or ulcer or pizza burn, stitches. But remember to always ask a professional if you are not sure what you’re looking at. Call Uxbridge Dental Care for that.

Ok good to know.