I recently had an opportunity to talk with Dr. Armen Mirzayan about the current status of digital dentistry and how clinicians can take advantage of digital workflows in their office. The topic of this article is one of several topics that I will bring to you in the next few months. In this article, I will present an application of digital dentistry that virtually every dental office can implement with profound results in terms of reduced chair time, and a marked increase in predictability of lab fabricated restorations.
Moving Toward Digital Dentistry
A majority of dentists are interested in moving their practice towards digital dentistry. But, in spite of the overwhelming interest, the growth in the acquisition of Intra Oral Scanning (IOS) systems has been slow and steady. Initially, the systems were only offered as packages that included in-office milling. That may have been more than many offices wanted to take on. This sticking point has become less of an issue as systems have become open to exporting standard files that can be moved into a variety of design and fabrication technologies, and labs like Burbank Dental Lab have risen to the call and become digitally sophisticated.
A Solution to Digitizing Impressions
Mar. 8-9, 2019
Jun. 20-21, 2019
Jul. 5-6, 2019
Baltimore, MD
Columbus, OH
Honolulu, HI
- Fundamentals of Digital Impressions
- Mastery of single unit impressions, complex cases, and staging of full arch cases
- Managing errors introduced in imaging
- How and what to delegate to team members
- Digital restorations
- Mastery of CAD-Ray software for the dentist
- Design single units, copy cases, and custom abutments from scan bodies
- Introduction and mastery of Integration of Cone Beam data and STL data
- Understanding the limitation of Cone Beam and STL Integration
- Integration and limitation of multiple Cone Beam data sets
- Proper digitization of denture duplicates for stent fabrication
- Multiple ways to design a surgical stent and how to choose appropriate design type
- Proper case presentation techniques for patients
- Hands on Exercises
- Single implant placement designs
- Understand how to bill for your Cone Beam scans and surgical stents
- Learn how you can bill for numerous surgical procedures
- Treatment planning for large cases
- Appropriate case set ups and their ramifications during surgery
- The multiple uses for chairside denture application
- Chairside denture duplications and scan appliance fabrication
- Impression techniques for multiple fixtures and multi-abutments
- Restorative designs of abutments on CAD software
- Immediate extractions and how to keep track of the vertical dimension
- The multiple restorative options available to you
- Accurate transfers of fixtures to models
- Digital Impressions for edentulous cases
- Edentulous case design with digital dentures
Benefits of Desktop Impression Scanning
Keep basic impression-taking systems the same.
Evaluate preps and impressions while the patient is still in the office. Scanning impressions will allow you to catch and correct preparation or impression uncertainties, and make corrections before dismissing your patient.
Optimal clinical information capture: while sub-gingival information can sometimes be difficult to obtain with intraoral scanners, it is easier to obtain with conventional impressions and then digitizing the impressions.
Improved accuracy: Scanning impressions can provide increased accuracy over sending conventional impressions to the lab and in some cases, a scanned impression can be more accurate than an IOS.
- Alginates impressions can be scanned immediately chairside; precision scanning of fresh impressions avoids potential distortions of impressions during shipping.
- Triple Trays can be scanned, which delivers an articulated scan to the lab, eliminating articulation errors.
Figure 3
Figure 4
- Full arch impressions for appliances and dentures are more accurate when scanned in desktop scanners as opposed to IOS impressions that are captured intraorally.
Take advantage of savings with our lab when opting for model-free restorations. Most labs, Burbank Dental Lab included offer discounts for model-free digital cases. An optical scan of the impression gives you the same advantage as an IOS impression when it comes to what the lab receives, and the benefits available.
Reduced turnaround time.
- Eliminate one way of the transit time of shipping impressions from dentist to lab.
- The lab can begin the design, production of the restorations, and digital models immediately upon receiving the impression data, rather than requiring model work to be completed first.
![3Shape Design Application - Figure 5]()
A clinician has the option to mark margins prior to sending to the lab, thus eliminating guesswork by the lab in trimming margins.
Procedures
Take a conventional impression, using a triple tray impression when appropriate, makes it easy.
Secure the impression in the scanner.
If you are not using triple trays, you will need to take a bite registration and scan it as well.
After scanning the impression, open the scan in the scanner's “design” software and examine the impression, prep design, and completeness of the margin.
Send verified impression scan to the lab.
Dr. Mirzayan is currently using the Medit T500 desktop scanner. One of the distinct advantages of using this particular scanner is the ability to easily scan double-sided impressions in one step. This saves you time and truly allows you to shorten your appointments while still being able to verify your impression and prep quality while the patient is still in the operatory.
The ability to scan a triple tray also eliminates the need to take a separate bite in most cases. The Medit Series is also designed to perform ‘fully automatic impression scanning’. The Medit T-series brings you the best and most productive impression scanning. The T-series has a 3-axis arm for automatic double-sided impression scanning, eliminating the need for manual reversing the image. The result is an easy and accurate double-sided impression scan and bite alignment.
Desktop Scanning Systems Used for Impression Scanning
