By CRAIG T. NEISES

Hawk Eye : 2/20/05

cneises@thehawkeye.com

To hear David Camp talk about the latest advances in dental technology might lead someone who has never met him to think he was but a recent dental school graduate, one filled with excitement about what the profession holds in store.

Instead, he's a 38-year veteran of dental practice who is filled with excitement about what the profession holds in store.

Camp said he gained that perspective early on, from one of his mentors, Bob Glenn, a pediatric dentist in Burlington and professor at Iowa.

"He was always looking at the latest, the newest technology," Camp said. "I always thought that's what you ought to do."

Too many of his classmates, he said, never took on that view, never changing a thing about how they approached the practice of dentistry right up until their retirement. In his own practice, the Burlington native said that the vast majority of what he does is completely different than what he did as a new dentist in the mid-1960s.

Keeping on top of change, and his desire to employ modern-day techniques, Camp concedes, may be part of the reason why, at age 62, his own retirement is still many years away.

"If you're having a good time at what you're doing," he said, "just keep on doing it. But only if you're doing things as good as they're doing them when they come out of school."

One of Camp's most recent acquisitions in the ongoing effort to stay current was a laser unit that can shine on a tooth as a non-invasive method for diagnosing tooth decay. Intra-oral cameras help him to better explain problems and procedures by giving patients a view inside their own mouths.

Camp's office is almost completely digital, with patient records, scheduling and charting all done electronically. The technology of digital radiography is coming along well enough that Camp may soon go to digital X-rays, too.

But not quite yet, he said, noting that the image quality still leaves something to be desired.

"You don't want to just go and get something because it's new," he said. Instead, he said, it is important to consider whether a new technology would provide better results for patients, and right now, traditional X-rays are still better. But in a year or two, Camp said that could change.

Of particular interest to Camp is the ever-improving technology found in the area of dental implants, an area he has specialized in within his general dentistry practice.

That applies to everything from full dentures to crowns to bridges to individual tooth replacements and even run-of-the-mill fillings.

Camp sees the biggest advance in aesthetic dentistry to be the development of tooth-colored restorations.

"I have not used a silver and mercury filling in probably 10 years," he said. The resin and ceramic material he uses today bonds better to the tooth, won't discolor over time, and matches the color of the tooth.

Digital color-matching using a computer and small scanning device enables Camp to create porcelain crowns that match existing teeth. It's a crown-making technology that the dentist is most excited about — to the point that he is considering the purchase of a costly milling device that would enable him to make crowns for patients right on the spot, without having to send out to a lab or needing to place temporary crowns.

When he first saw the device 15 years ago, he said it looked like a great idea, but just wasn't good enough.

Now, though, with the addition of computer control, a wider choice of possible tooth colors and more exacting specifications (fits within a quarter-hair's width of a perfect fit), "it's absolutely just amazing."

Available now for crowning individual teeth, Camp said that technology may one day be used for creating whole bridges.

As for bridges, Camp is involved in a study that has 126 dentists from all over the world testing the real-world use of a new zirconium material.

Considered a sub-specialty of general dentistry, Camp said his interest in implants is just one aspect of the comprehensive dental services that are available in the Burlington area. Calling it uncommon for a community the size of Burlington to have so many bases covered, Camp pointed out that the community has specialists in periodontics (gum disease), orthodontics (braces), oral surgery and pediatric dentistry.

That availability, and the option it gives general dentists to make referrals, "raises the level of care patients can get."

Burlington also has what Camp called a "fairly active dental association" that coordinates continuing education opportunities for local dentists.

With referrals for implants from other dentists locally, and his own patients, Camp and his staff keep pretty busy. Between himself and a pair of full-time hygienists, 20 to 30 patients are scheduled at the office each day, with emergency visits coming on top of that. Two clinical dental assistants help with the patient load, while a pair of full-time office workers keep the clinic running.

In a couple of years, Camp may add an associate to the mix, someone he can count on to continue the practice when the time does come to retire — and so he can take it a bit easier until that day does arrive.

And although talk of retirement is just that, having an associate in place for that time is crucial piece of Camp's retirement plan.