Digital Impressions

There are a number of benefits to having digital dental impressions instead of the traditional alginate impressions. Intraoral scanner technology has almost entirely eliminated the need to use a traditional method of taking impressions in a patient’s mouth.

COMFORT

No gagging!

A traditional alginate impression requires a bulky plastic or metal tray, full of a putty like material, to stay in the patient’s mouth for up to 3 or 4 minutes to take a mold of what the teeth look like. This meant a very uncomfortable few minutes and often a great deal of gagging.

With digital impressions, gagging has been almost completely eliminated as there is no tray full of material sitting in the patient’s mouth. A wand if used to “hover” over the teeth using a special type of digital camera to take thousands of very quick pictures that the program stitches together in real time to make a nearly identical model to the patient’s mouth

ACCURACY

An alginate impression is easily subject to defects created by the putty like material, the trays, or even a slight movement while the try is in the patient’s mouth. They are also subject to human error when the models are being poured or trimmed.

A digital scanner takes impressions with a great amount of accuracy, leaving less room for error on the laboratory side. meaning that when products such as crowns are fabricated, there is increased fit and function.

SPEED

Due to the speed in which a digital scan can be taken, in combination with the real time 3D model of the teeth, a digital impression takes far less time than a traditional impression. There is no alginate trays sitting in the patients mouth for what feels like forever. And any mistakes or insufficient areas of the scan can be corrected on the spot. Therefore, it is less likely the patient needs to return to have new impressions taken, or that it is less likely the fabricated restoration will not fit.