“How often do I have to come?”, “What if I think the teeth are not moving as expected?”, “I find it difficult to take time off work for routine appointments, so what should I do?”. These are all frequent and reasonable questions. Fortunately, there is a great solution in sight – and Dr. Crotty is currently testing it. It is by a company called Dental Monitoring. The way it works is that Dr. Crotty takes his normal accurate & comprehensive treatment records. These are uploaded to Dental Monitoring. Next, the patient is registered to the site and then uploads a certain set of photographs, which she/he takes herself/himself using a smartphone ( iPhone or Android ).

The team at Dental Monitoring then compares them to the original records, combining 2D & 3D images, and are able to accurately measure the amount of movement. The details of how much each tooth has moved is then sent to Dr. Crotty every 2 weeks, together with the photographs – so he is then able to accurately assess the treatment progress. Not only that, but he can keep an eye on how clean the teeth are! So, if any unexpected and unwanted changes are becoming evident, they can be corrected BEFORE they become a problem. As a result, it is like having your braces checked every 2 weeks – without having to take time off school or work. So, if you think that the need to regularly take time off to have your braces adjusted or your clear Invisalign aligners changed means you cannot have treatment, you need to think again – and take advantage of this clever solution. See www.dental-monitoring.com for further details.