The world of dentistry has witnessed many changes, the most prominent of them being the incorporation of a digital impression system in the dental workflow. The traditional dental treatment methods are being gradually replaced by digital tools, which bring in their wake attributes like speed and precision. CAD and CAM, which are mostly used in industries to design and manufacture products, have found their application in digital dentistry. These systems have numerous advantages over their traditional counterparts. For instance, treatment that used to take days has been reduced to a matter of hours. This is true of dental crowns and other restorative solutions that can now be fitted to the patients in a short time.
How does a digital impression system help patients ?
Patients suffering from dental issues often take shortcuts to treatment, such as using home remedies or simply ignoring the issue. This is due to the somewhat tortuous/winding and time taking procedure for diagnosis and treatment. For instance, if a dentist has to fix a crown, dentures, or implant in the mouth of the patient, he or she needs to create a mold of similar dimensions. This calls for taking images of the tooth/teeth using X-rays in a conventional procedure. Thereafter, dental impressions are obtained using alginate materials, which the patient needs to hold onto his or her teeth for some time. The entire exercise can be very frustrating for the patient besides carrying the danger of gagging or swallowing the material.
Digital dentistry has gotten rid of any such issues by introducing digital scanners. These advanced easy-to-use devices can be used by dentists to obtain images of the buccal cavities of patients. The images are examined by the dentists and then forwarded to the dental laboratories to prepare crowns, restorations, or prosthetics using the additive printing method. The images are used by the milling machine to prepare restorations from special porcelain blocks. The crowns or restorations thus made are well-fitted to the tooth or teeth. The timespan for the entire process gets reduced and patients can head back home in a matter of hours.
A dental impression system can help overcome dental phobia among patients and save time for them as well as the dentists. The dentist, on his or her part, can deal with the next patient in the queue thereby enhancing the patient experience and increasing footfall to the clinic.
Why should dental clinics embrace digital dentistry?
With digitization making its headway into every sphere of our lives, dentistry could not have escaped its inexorable progression. The benefits dentalclinics can avail by embracing digital dentistry are as follows:
- Time saving: A digital impression system generates images, which can be stored in digital files to be transferred to the dental laboratories at the click of a mouse. This is unlike traditional dentistry where bite impressions or X-ray images are delivered physically. The dentist can view the crystal clear digital images on the side monitor and arrive at a diagnosis. He or she can take multiple scans to obtain the best images without inconveniencing the patients.
- Accuracy: Bite impressions taken through the conventional way can have imperfections that are not visible to the naked eye. It is only when the restorations are finally prepared that any slight anomaly related to fittings often comes to light. With digital dentistry, the exact dimensions of the crown or restorations are obtained and the final product comes out as an exact fit.
- Early intervention: A digital impression system can detect any earlier signs of damage to the teeth or other oral health concerns such as gingivitis. This can preclude patients from undergoing costly and time-consuming treatments later.
- Keeping records: Digital files can store terabytes of data related to patients’ dental issues either on in-house systems or the cloud, safely and securely. These records can be retrieved whenever needed, unlike the traditional system where storage beyond a point is not feasible leave alone any possibility of retrieval later.
Conclusion
With the world moving towards digitization, dentistry too has moved towards streamlining its workflows, reducing hassles in diagnosis and treatment, and enhancing the patients’ experiences. By embracing digital dentistry, dental clinics can make a transformative impact on the way diagnosis and treatment are undertaken.
