“You coat the tooth in that area where the cavity is starting,” Dr. Welna explained. “It wicks in and essentially kills off the bacteria, with the ultimate hope of never having to do a filling in that spot.”

It’s a particularly helpful treatment for very young children who may have difficulty tolerating more than a few minutes in a dental chair — kids who are described as “pre-cooperative.”

“Sometimes if they’re barely able to sit for a hygiene exam, the chances of us being able to do a filling or something else invasive is more challenging,” explained Dr. Welna, who himself is father to four young children.

SDF is also a useful tool for elderly patients, some of whom suffer from severe dry mouth as a result of medications or other medical treatments. “Dry mouth is a huge risk factor for cavities that most people aren’t aware of,” Dr. Welna said. “They’re always thinking sugar, but with dry mouth the bacteria basically are able to run rampant.”

“(SDF) wicks in and essentially kills off the bacteria, with the ultimate hope of never having to do a filling in that spot.”

Whatever the age of the patient, when indicated, treating cavities with SDF is faster, easier, and less expensive than traditional fillings. However, there are trade-offs, Dr. Welna added. SDF does cause discoloration — typically a grayish-black spot in the area of the cavity — so is best used in areas that aren’t easily visible.

“Having a stained tooth is better than having a cavity that’s getting bigger and causing a child a toothache,” he said.

For younger patients, employing tools like SDF contributes to a positive experience in the dentists’ office. “There’s a lot of patients out there who are adults that had a bad experience as kids and have thus avoided the dentist for a long time, and then we have lots of things to address,” Dr. Welna said.

Dr. Welna and his colleagues at Hillside Dental — Dr. Lonnette Breneman and Dr. Chris Johnson — are implementing other new technologies into their practice as well.

For several years, Hillside Dental has used an intra-oral scanner, which now can be used in the process of creating night guards, whitening trays, and retainers — all without the need for sticking a tray of weird goop in a patient’s mouth. “The scanner basically takes a three-dimensional picture of your teeth, and then we use that to create the models that we print here in-house now,” Dr. Welna said. The models of patients’ mouths are 3D printed, then used as molds to vacuum form night guards and other dental appliances right in the office.

Hillside Dental is also currently making room for a cone-beam CT scanner, which will produce the 3D images necessary to place dental implants. Dr. Welna is looking forward to offering dental implants in-house; currently, patients have to go to an outside specialist for implants.

“Most patients are happy when we can provide a service here in the clinic,” Dr. Welna said.