The pace of technological advance across science is staggeringly fast. Our ability to translate some of the potential developments in technology into concepts/products/devices that can assist dentists in caring for patients is key to ensuring that both the profession and the people we care for derive full benefit from these new technologies. This overview will focus in four areas: research and how we gather and interpret data to inform health care; the diagnosis and prevention of disease; planning care; and new concepts in terms of achieving desired health outcomes for patients. Some of the technological advances will be in their infancy and others close to or indeed clinical reality. The objective of this overview is to show where we are in terms of the cutting edge of technology and to whet the appetite for things to come.
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