Perfecting The Patient Experience for 2020

The plan is just the beginning. The accuracy of each step is critical in creating outcomes that will have patients talking about their experience. Digital dental workflows have brought about a massive and welcome change to the industry. The use of technology that provides a faster and better service is an essential factor when patients are selecting a dentist. Specifically, intraoral scanners are a great technology to improve the patient experience. Intraoral scanners increase the level of accuracy when it comes to digital impression taking. This increased accuracy ensures better fitting restorations fabricated and placed in a shorter amount of time. Scanned images also reveal more details that can be shared with patients so that they can understand the need for a specific treatment plan.

Also, intraoral scanners provide digital impressions that can be instantly sent over to the lab and evaluated in real-time. As a laboratory that adopted digital workflows early in its development, Burbank Dental Lab has been involved in thousands of scans. Burbank's digital scan team can review the scan and consult on the specifics of the case and advise if the preparation design and digital impression is accurate while the patient is still in the office.

Other benefits of intraoral scans include:

• No impression materials needed results in less spent on overhead
• Quicker dental appointments as scans are much faster than traditional methods
• Improved accuracy of the restoration decreases insertion time
• Patients have an easier time with digital scans, as traditional impressions can cause gagging.

However, digital impressions must be accurate to offer any benefit. This is true whether the impressions are traditional or digital. The preparation must correlate to the desired material choice, and margins and gum tissue must be adequately treated to provide an adequate scan. The following are some tips to consider to improve intraoral scans: