Do you get the feeling this small town dentist likes Star Wars? What he lacks in acting skills he at least makes up for in visuals. The commercial isn’t horrible but it is a little campy. Give the guy credit though because the editing is pretty good and makes it all flow together for the most part. But as a Star Wars fan I kind of had to close my eyes for part of this as I held back a laugh.
Ah well, like I said, it’s not a bad commercial.
The main gist of it though is that laser dentistry is becoming a very popular idea and has been since the 1990’s. In 1997 the FDA finally approved a laser that could be used to work on teeth, so at this point you can kind of assume that the lasers being used have gone through rigorous tests to be made as safe as possible. It’s more reassuring to know that the technology has been going through continual upgrades throughout the years to become as user-friendly as it can be rather than believe that this is cutting edge technology that has yet to be fully tested or approved.
What happens is that the dentist uses the mentioned PIPS, which stands for Photon Induced Photoacoustic Streaming to clean out the root canal, thereby creating a smooth surface inside without any mess. This eliminates the need for any painful digging and possible rupture of the root canal, which could cause infections and the need for possible dental surgery. The PIPS would enable the dentist to clear the way down the root canal in a less invasive and much more practical manner so as to make it possible to obdurate the canal without any need for the constant washing and picking away of any mess that might be left behind.
Root canals are painful, messy processes that can cause agonizing pain with or without anesthesia depending upon the severity of the damage that has already been done. With PIPS however the process can at least be fairly humane and possibly avoid becoming a white-knuckle affair. The lasers are powerful enough to destabilize any clinging material and clean out the root canal so that the entire process can be less of a hassle.
Using Star Wars as a vehicle to sell his services is an interesting choice but it’s easy enough to see why he did it. The dentist is obviously a bit of a fan and even has Star Wars cutouts and other memorabilia scattered throughout his office to give it a bit of character. I wonder though if he had to get any kind of permission to use the film in such a way as to sell his services and promote PIPS. It’s much more likely that he did, and it’s possible that he could be banking on gaining the type of business he needs as a result.
All in all it’s a gamble, but I do hope it’s paid off for him since the service sounds better than the traditional root canal. Plus, I’m a Star Wars junkie so it’s still nice to see stuff like this pop up, even if I have to hide my eyes for a moment.
