In this edition of the Medit Times, we are excited to share the many options of scanning partial dentures by Dr. Luke LaRocque-Walker.
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Dr. Luke LaRocque-Walker believes that partial denture frameworks fabricated from scans perfectly fit the natural dentition.
This is why he doesn’t want to make those cases by only taking an impression, which he understands would be a faster way to do it.
Here are a few different ways to blend an intraoral scan with traditional impressions.
Scanning a Model from Alginate Impression
This is accomplished by scanning the patients’ remaining teeth.
According to Dr. Luke, this is super simple and works well.
He uses the “Lock Area” feature to lock those areas from picking up any other data.
When he starts scanning at the most distal tooth, the scanner shouldn’t have any issues finding its location.
He then continues to scan the whole free end of the model.
Scanning an Alginate Impression
Similar to the model scanning option, Dr. Luke scans the patient’s natural teeth and locks the data.
He also tries to capture some of the patient’s mandibular ridge as more of a reference for the scanner to pick up.
Once this is complete, click the “Impression” button at the bottom of the screen to invert your current scan to match your impression.
Start scanning the impression near the most distal tooth, and once the scanner picks up where it is, you are set.
One tip from Dr. Luke is that if the scanner cannot match the impression to the original scan of your teeth, use the field of view size adjustment to make a narrow field of view and it can make it easier for the scanner to match the data.
This is where Medit scanners really shine!
Scanning a PVS Impression
PVS impression scanning is very similar to alginate impression scanning, but there are a few clinical options available to make the best free end partial denture possible.
You can scan as much of the mandibular ridge as possible, and design a custom impression tray on that to take a border-molded final impression.
This is technically a digitally altered cast technique impression.
Scanning Existing Denture for Impression
The other option you have is to use the patient’s existing denture as an impression tray, and scan that.
You can also use this denture to help with an accurate bite scan.
You have so much valuable information in that old denture. Why not use it?
