Each year, new innovative technology makes great strides forward through continued human effort. Humans continuously improve what exists in order to make everything more efficient and convenient.
The same can be said for dental impressions.
Traditional impressions have evolved since first being introduced to dental offices. From originally using wax material to currently often using alginate, dental impressions have come a long way.
However, today digital dental impressions are beginning to take over the role held for so long by the traditional impressions. So now a new question arises.
Should you switch over to digital impressions or continue using the tried-and true traditional impressions?
Rather than choosing between digital or traditional, one can simply look at the dental impression as having further improved (as it continuously has been) and has now evolved into the digital impression; the newest improvement to dental impressions as a whole.
Here are several benefits of digital over traditional impressions and why you should switch over to using digital impressions.
- Improved workflow: There is no longer a need to prepare traditional impressions when you use digital impressions in the workspace. This will save you time and make the whole process smoother for both you and the patient. As an added benefit, there is a cost savings from no longer needing to use traditional impression materials and disinfecting trays.
- Faster turnaround times: With digital impressions, you will be able to send impressions to the lab much faster than before. Rather than slowly sending in the traditional impression, digital impressions can be sent in seconds. In addition, more information can be sent to the lab, particularly information about the margins. There will be less loss from over-trimming at the margins as they are marked digitally. Collaboration options are also available with labs if you do a screen-share to further clarify the margins. With digital impressions, you can start on cases sooner as you have more control over how long each case takes.
- Real-time feedback: Real-time feedback is one of the main benefits of using digital impressions. While scanning, you can immediately find errors or missed areas and repair them.
- Reduction in remakes: Human error is ever-present in everything we do. However, practices using digital impressions tend to see reduced human error and therefore a reduction in remakes. This is a huge boon to everyone involved in the impression-creation process.
- Patient care: Ultimately, creating a smooth and pleasant experience for patients is of utmost importance to all practices. Digital impressions lead to better products with faster turnaround times, improved workflow, and a reduction in remakes. This translates to less wait for patients and a smooth impression-taking experience with less errors. A happy customer is the key to future success.
As time moves forward, digital impressions and technology will undoubtedly continue to improve. More effort will be made to improve digital impressions with less focus on the traditional means. As we so readily made the switch to cars and smartphones from horses and letters, now is the time to switch from traditional impressions to the more modern method. It is time to go digital!
Did you like this article? Click here and find more interesting posts related to digital dentistry in Medit dental blog. Also, if you are thinking of buying an Intraoral Scanner, Medit will launch very soon its Medit i500. Click here if you want to know more about this product.
