Digital dentistry in the computer age

Computer technology has brought about so many changes in the last 50 years that many people look at the future with a mixture of vague unease and exci ted anticipation. Considering the extent to which computer technology has c hanged our lives within the last generation, it is reasonable to ask oursel ves, "What else will the future bring?" Even the most erudite and well-rese arched predictions have the tendency to become next year's humorous anecdot es of computing history. In 1943, Thomas Watson Jr., then chairman of Inter national Business Machines Corp., or IBM, probably formulated one of the mo st poignant ones when he declared that "I think there is a world market for about five computers." By the-end of 1998, 364 million personal computers were installed worldwide.(1).