i-CAT

Our office is one of the few dental offices in Orange County to have an in-office, state-of-the-art, i-CAT  Cone Beam 3-D Imaging System.  Just like medical CT scans, the i-CAT gives Dr. Miller and Dr. Bounds an advanced  and detailed three dimensional look inside the interior of your upper and lower jaws.  This information is essential for most of our dental implant patients .  These computer generated images will give Dr. Miller and Dr. Bounds critical diagnostic information such as the location of nerves and sinuses,  as well as the width, shape and density of the jawbone.  This information can be used to help determine the most suitable implant (size and shape) for each patient, minimizing the risk of nerve damage and eliminating “surgical surprises”.   Just as an orthopedic surgeon  wouldn’t  perform a knee or hip replacement without a medical CT scan, Dr. Miller and Dr. Bounds need an i-CAT prior to placing  dental implants.

While the i-CAT gives Dr. Miller and Dr. Bounds similar information as a medical CT scan, the i-CAT has a radiation dose that is about one-tenth that of medical CT scans.  The actually i-CAT scan time is only about nine seconds and it takes the computer about one minute to build the images.  While we used to have to refer our patients out to an outside imaging center for i-Cat images, we can now take it at your exam and consultation appointment and review it with you a few minutes later!