Digital Impressions
We take pride in offering digital dental impressions to our patients, as it significantly
enhances the comfort, accuracy, and efficiency of their dental care. Whether we're working on
repairing your smile or making cosmetic enhancements, digital impressions represent the latest
technology that simplifies the process, benefiting both our patients and our dental team.
With our digital dental impression scanner, the days of biting down on a tray filled with putty
are a thing of the past. In the past, dental impressions involved physically pressing your teeth
into a mold-making substance by biting down on a tray containing a gooey material. You had to
keep this material in your mouth for several minutes as it solidified. While the process itself
is painless, it was often quite uncomfortable for many patients.
This traditional method was especially problematic for individuals with an overly sensitive gag
reflex. Gagging during the process not only made it uncomfortable for the patient but also could
lead to movement of the impression tray, potentially compromising the accuracy of the mold.
Digital impressions have effectively resolved these issues.
What Is A Digital Impression?
Digital impressions are taken using an intraoral scanner that creates a detailed 3D image of
your mouth. The scanner is small enough that it fits on the end of a wand. It looks like the
tool we use to polish your teeth, only bigger. We take the scan by systematically moving the
wand around your mouth as it emits a specialized scanning light. The images of your mouth
can be viewed on a computer screen within seconds, to be viewed by both you & the dentist.
We love that digital impressions give our patients an opportunity to see in detail what's
going on in their own mouths.
Digital impressions are used in restorative dentistry to create tooth replacements, such as
crowns, bridges & partial dentures. Digital impressions can also be used in dental implant
procedures, both for planning implant placement & to create a surgical guide that ensures
accurate placement of implants on the day of the operation. Digital impressions can also be
used for planning & visualizing how to straighten teeth, especially with systems that
already include a digital workflows, such as clear aligners like Invisalign®.
Digital Impressions vs. Traditional Impressions
The accuracy of digital impressions is on par with traditional impressions, and there's evidence
to suggest that they may even be more precise. What sets digital impressions apart is the
immediate feedback they offer. With the 3-D model of your mouth visible in real-time, any
discrepancies can be addressed right away. If any section of the scan doesn't appear accurate,
we can swiftly re-scan you, eliminating the need to schedule another appointment for the patient
to return later, as is often the case with traditional impressions.
In the traditional impression process, once the impression material sets, the tray is removed and
sent to a dental laboratory. There, a skilled lab technician creates a stone model of your mouth
by pouring ceramic material into the mold. This model serves as the foundation for various
restorative designs, such as crowns or bridges, or as a basis for orthodontic treatment
planning.
This traditional process involves the physical creation of molds and the time-consuming
involvement of a lab technician, who subsequently sends back the designed models. Depending on
the lab's workload, this can extend over days or even weeks. Fortunately, digital impressions
revolutionize the process, significantly reducing the time required at each stage.