Digital Dental Impressions: No More Goop

 

Digital Dental Impressions: No More Goop

Angela M. Boehler, D.M.D.    

     

What is the difference between conventional impressions and digital dental impressions?

To make a conventional dental impression the dentist or assistant will select a stock tray in a size that will fit as closely as possible to the patient.  Then, a thick liquid material is dispensed into an impression tray.  After the liquid material is poured into the tray, it is then placed onto either the upper or lower set of teeth so that it covers the entire dental arch.  After some length of time, the liquid material sets and hardens, and become a solid rubber mass. The tray is then removed from the mouth and is picked up or mailed to the dental laboratory for further processing.  Stone is poured into the hardened impression and when set a dental cast is produced.

Digital dental impressions are obtained using an intraoral scanner, which consists of a wand-like tool that is attached by a cord to a computer.  Installed software allows the scan to be obtained and recorded.  The wand is inserted into the patient’s mouth and is glided above the teeth in all areas that are being treated.  As this wand moves, it is capturing the images and displaying them on the computer screen right before your eyes.

What are the Patient Advantages?

The use of an intraoral scanner provides huge patient advantages.

Comfort:  While taking conventional dental impressions should be painless, they can be uncomfortable. Hold the goop filled tray in one’s mouth for several minutes often causes a patient to gag and excessively drool making the entire experience messy. And since premade trays are usually used, they can pinch or rub areas of the mouth during the process. And getting these trays in and out of a patient’s mouth can be difficult as well.

Digital impressions avoid all these issues.  The patient simply relaxes with their mouth gently open and the dentist or assistant does all the work.

Accuracy:  During a conventional dental impression, if the tooth being treated gets wet or the tray gets moved or an air bubble is trapped in the impression area, it is not detected until the impression is removed.  This means that the entire impression process will have to be redone to get the most accurate impression possible.  And even then, these inaccuracies may not be detectable until the impression is sent to the lab.

Digital impressions allow the dentist or assistant to see the scans in real time and if an area does not scan accurately, that area is simply and quickly rescanned.  

                            

  

Time and Efficiency: Traditional Dental Impressions would need to be sterilized and then physically picked up or mailed to the dental lab.

Digital impressions are electronically sent directly to the dental lab the day the scan is taken. 

What is the Cost?

While both patients and dentist alike are raving about the advancement in digital impression scanning, a patient may wonder, “What’s the cost of this new dental technology?” There is no additional cost to the patient to do digital impressions versus the conventional impressions.

If you are ready to say goodbye to the traditional ways of dentistry, then say hello to Simply Smiles, P.A. – a practice embracing the newest dental technologies, helping our patients have the most comfortable, efficient and easy experience. Call us today to make your appointment.

                        

 Simply Smiles, P.A.

Dental Studio and DentiSpa

Angela M. Boehler, D.M.D.

               941-625-5141