Bringing Dentistry into the Digital Age: An Interview with Dr. Faraj Edher

Please tell us about yourself and your practice.

I am a Prosthodontist practicing here in Vancouver, and my practice primarily focuses on esthetic makeovers, reconstructions, and implant dentistry. We utilize different digital workflows to be able to perform these procedures in a way that is efficient and predictable.

What got you into dentistry?

I started studying to become a medical doctor, then after getting exposed to the common programs between medicine and dentistry, I transitioned into dentistry, I really enjoyed the attention to detail aspect that comes with prosthodontics and just being able to have the versatility to do many different things in the same day, being able to utilize digital technology. So, right after dental school I completed my Masters in Craniofacial Science and my clinical specialization in Prosthodontics to really focus on being able to have a significant impact in people's lives with the types of transformations that we do.

Why and How is 3D face scanning relevant in dentistry?

Any tool that provides more information is a valuable tool in dentistry, particularly in reconstructive or implant dentistry. It becomes a powerful way of communicating. Communication plays a tremendous role in providing predictable outcomes time and time again, regardless of the complexity or individuality of the case. it also helps with communicating directly with patients, we are able to have conversations with patients at a level that is beyond what we're used to, if we were just to try to do things verbally and even if we were using two dimensional photographs, there's a limitation to how that can be perceived by our patients, like a smile design, for example. The same applies to our lab partners. If we are communicating without any visual tools, it is just a guess and hope that we see the same thing. Whereas when we're able to augment the visual tools, particularly three dimensional visual tools, like a facial scan, there's very little guesswork and it's all based on accurate planning, and being able to look at things three dimensionally, being able to look at the lips, the face, the way the structures work, whether it's from a frontal view or a lateral view or any of the infinite views that you can look at from a three dimensional facial scan.

How do you incorporate and use RAYFace in your practice?

We use RAYFace for almost every case, the cases we do are reconstructive or esthetic in nature, and we’ve built it into our workflow to be done during the consultation process. We’ve seen a game changing difference in patient acceptance, and understanding because we're able to, on the day of meeting that patient, do all our diagnostics, consider the different treatment options, and then being able to visually showcase to our patients using RAYFace. With the smile design tools that are on the RAYFace software, we're able to actually show them a ballpark of what we can expect to accomplish with this treatment option, seeing the technology is quite impressive to them and it sets the standard of what they can expect at our practice in terms of the innovative tools that we use. We utilize it in multiple occasions throughout treatment. We utilize [RAYFace] mid-treatment to have that three-dimensional facial scan to be able to further enhance our designs for the final restorations. We also capture it post-treatment, as a reference of where we began and where we are now.

Why RAYFace, and why Ray America?

I’ve looked and used multiple facial scanners, and what stood out to me about RAYFace is its ease of use. It is easy for new or existing team members to be onboarded and be comfortable utilizing it. It is extremely quick, the fact that we can take a facial scan in less than a second makes it a very comfortable experience for the patient. But the thing that I was most impressed with RAYFace compared to other facial scanners is the integration abilities, the software being able to seamlessly integrate a facial scan to a Cone Beam CT, to an INTRAORAL scan to 2D photos, and having all of that information in one file, then the ability to integrate virtual smile design to that, is to me the thing that really makes RAYFace standout.

Anything else you want to say to the readers?

I would highly encourage people to closely look at how facial scanning can be implemented and integrated into their existing digital workflows. It unlocks another dimension of information and allows for these workflows to be utilized in a much more powerful way than what we've been used to doing with 2D imaging.

For more information, call Ray America at (800) 976-4586, visit the website rayamerica.com, or email info@rayamerica.com.