Digital Dentistry
Dental professionals may find it difficult to transition from analog impressions to digital impressions. For clinicians used to traditional impressions and workflows, digital dentistry can seem to pose a steep learning curve and substantial upfront costs. It is understandable that some dental health professionals may not be sure whether it is worth the effort to make the transition.
Burbank Dental Lab has been at the forefront of digital technology and has welcomed and adopted the new workflows since they were first introduced to the dental field.
Burbank Dental Lab has watched as many of our dental clients have made the transition to digital technology, especially with digital impressions. While moving in the digital direction is a major change for most dental practices, the truth is it does not take much time to master the digital workflows.
Most patients prefer intraoral scanner (IOS) impression methods to traditional impression techniques. Traditional methods are messy and, for many patients, extremely uncomfortable. Knowing that there is another more advanced method improves patient satisfaction.
In addition to making patients happy, IOS impression methods offer the following benefits:
Digital Impressions Improve Efficiency
Digital impressing techniques aren’t just preferred by patients, but also by most clinicians once they become familiar with the technology. This preference stems from the improved digital workflow efficiencies that offer a dental practice. Digital methods, for instance, save valuable chair time compared to traditional methods.
With the elimination of shipping, the scans can be sent to the lab on the same day. Although it isn’t necessary in every case, it is possible to scan the case and share it with the lab, then receive instant feedback before dismissing the patient.
Digital Workflows Increase Practice Growth
Digital workflows can improve efficiency, lower overhead, and increase profitability. Additionally, digital technologies greatly improve the overall patient experience, setting up a dental practice for growth.
Patients perceive dental practices that use modern technology as being more valuable. As a result of this higher perceived value of the patient, clinicians gain a competitive edge over dental practices that are slower to adopt newer technology.
Digital Technologies Increase Productivity
Digital impression methods are highly accurate.
By increasing accuracy, there is less chance that the final restorations will need to be repaired or remade. The lower the repairs and remakes, the faster the insertion appointments, the higher the quality of the restorations, and the smoother the interactions with the dental lab. Further, by allowing a staff member to take intraoral scans, clinicians can focus their expertise elsewhere, which results in higher productivity.
Digital Workflows Lower Costs
Clinicians cannot provide dentistry unless their practice is profitable. Today’s climate presents a significant challenge due to rising costs. By using digital workflows, you can not only improve the final product but also reduce your costs.
The following are some of the areas where digital workflows affect costs:
Dental Practices Can Expand Services
Due to labor shortages, rising costs, and patient financial stressors, dental practices face many challenges. Staying competitive and profitable can be challenging. With digital workflows, clinicians are expanding into other types of specialties such as orthodontics and appliance therapy. Clinicians can offer life-improving services to existing patients while creating growth opportunities for the dental practice.
The right technologies are essential for clinicians who decide to move their practice to digital dentistry. A wide variety of digital scanners is available on the market, each offering a different level of functionality. Making the best decision in digital technologies begins with a clear understanding of the practice’s overall goals. Take into consideration the following factors before making a decision:
The majority of clinicians who opt to make their practice digital prefer this method over the old-fashioned analog impression methods. By using a digital scanner, restoration times are faster, chair-time per patient is reduced, costs are reduced, turnaround times are faster, and accuracy of the restoration is greatly improved. Perhaps the most important factor is that the patient experience is significantly improved. Burbank Dental Lab was one of the early adopters of this technology and has extensive knowledge of it and its implementation. Get in touch with Burbank Dental Lab today to learn more.
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