Clinical Director of Hampton Dental Care, Dr Roger Hollins, describes how the Zeiss EXTARO 300 microscope has become an essential tool for endodontic treatment in his new dental practice
After 38 years of practising dentistry, as the owner of three dental practices in Liverpool under the name of Atlantic Dental, and as the Chair of the Local Dental Network (LDN), I finally decided it was time for a new challenge. I stepped away from my clinical role, sold two of my three practices and set about converting my remaining practice into Hampton Dental Care.
The practice team and I chose to retain this particular site as we felt it was the best one for the direction in which we wanted to take the new practice. We wanted to provide high-quality general NHS dentistry but also to cater for our growing number of private patients by developing specialist services with the help of the latest high-end dental equipment.
Endodontics is one of the most important specialist services we now provide at Hampton Dental Care and the aim of our latest investment in a Zeiss EXTARO® 300 microscope was to improve our capabilities in this area. We have an endodontist joining us who is just finishing his training to qualify for the specialist list. He is currently working with us on a part-time basis until he completes his exams, and the microscope is already becoming an essential piece of equipment for him.
To deliver optimum root canal treatment, especially on posterior teeth, a high-quality microscope like the Zeiss EXTARO 300 is required to identify the root canals, which can often be missed, and to identify tooth fractures not visible even to those wearing loupes. It is there to help the endodontist, it is there to make the patient’s experience more comfortable and efficient, and it enhances the treatment outcome.
The top choice
Knowing this would be a significant investment for us, we carried out extensive research and asked dental colleagues about their thoughts on what might be the best dental microscopes; Zeiss kept coming out on top. Zeiss is known globally for the quality of optics in their products. The image quality of the EXTARO 300 and the way it improves diagnosis during treatment made it the obvious choice for us. There’s just no contest between using our Zeiss EXTARO 300 compared to using loupes in terms of field of vision, lighting and ease of use. It moves very smoothly and quickly, and is also terrific from an ergonomic perspective as you can maintain a neutral body posture without bending over patients or putting strain on your back and neck during long procedures. Once you start using an endo microscope, the transformation is enormous; it’s impossible to go back!
Work with the experts
We purchased the Zeiss EXTARO 300 through Henry Schein Dental as we knew they were experts in this field as well as across all areas of digital dentistry. I’ve enjoyed dealing with the team at Henry Schein as they have been very open, honest, and efficient throughout the whole process.
The Henry Schein engineers took care of the installation, overseen by a Zeiss product specialist who travelled from Germany to assist. Both he and the Henry Schein team were there throughout the whole process to answer any of our questions, to go through the operation of the microscope in detail with us, and to make sure we had all the information and training we needed to make use of the microscope straight away.
Making the difference
The Zeiss EXTARO 300 allows us to develop the endo side of our practice and without it, we could not have made such a good start. It enables more accurate assessment of the surgical situation; it is a far more efficient way of detecting caries; and ultimately helps the clinician make the right surgical decisions. Adjustments can be made quickly and easily during treatments using just one hand and because of its extremely wide depth of field and fluorescent light there is no need for constant adjustments during use.
We have been extremely pleased with the installation, service, support, and follow-ups we have received from Henry Schein to ensure everything is running exactly as it should be. It has been a very straightforward process and the microscope has worked without a hitch since installation. I cannot recommend the microscope or the Henry Schein team enough - I am definitely a very happy customer.