Digital dental records
Modern dentistry has reached remarkable levels in terms of therapies and treatments thanks to current technologies, which achieve high results in various fields. But above all, they allow greater precision and speed of intervention than in the past.
At Mercuri Orthodontie, we are using various new tools to make our work even more efficient and precise. Among these are the digital dental records which makes it possible to take the impressions necessary for the creation of all types of orthodontic appliances. This is a result of great importance, because it opens up prospects for an increasingly digital future.
So let's see precisely what it is, what are the differences with classic records and how we make them.
What digital records are and how they differ from the classic one
Digital records are so called because they use computer tools, thanks to which the patient's mouth is reconstructed with a simple digital pen. The impressions are then sent to the dental technician. They allow a three-dimensional measurement, by reconstructing the dimensions and shapes of the dental arches.
The dentition is thus displayed on a monitor which makes it possible to check in detail the situation of the patient's oral cavity. The latter will realize how the dentist works, thus becoming more involved in the healing process.
The scanner is the tool used to take the impression. The degree of precision achieved today is decidedly high. This therefore suggests that in the not too distant future, they will become tools more and more used in the dental context, to facilitate the work of the specialist by making it more and more precise.
As well as in the method, the main difference with conventional impressions is the shutter speed. The classic impression requires a material to be held in place in the mouth for up to 6 minutes. The patient must therefore wait for the material to solidify. However, this procedure can often be bothersome, and sometimes even cause nausea, due to the unpleasant taste of the material used and the feeling of suffocation that can result.
In our dental practice, the traditional print has been completely abandoned.
How we perform digital impressions
As we said before, digital impression uses modern and technologically advanced tools, which, especially under certain circumstances, allow very precise results to be obtained.
With the help of a special camera, a kind of image of the dental arch is made. Thanks to CAD / CAM technology, a 3D image is recreated and therefore we will be able to visualize the patient's teeth in three dimensions on the computer screen.
This method has several advantages. First of all, it is an absolutely painless method. In addition, it does not cause any discomfort, because alginate paste is not used to hold in place in the mouth. The scanner is a kind of bulky fountain pen that does not disturb the patient's oral cavity.
Another advantageous aspect of the digital impression is the reduction in the time required to carry out dental replacements and prosthetic treatments. There are also shorter deadlines for the creation of invisible aligners. Often, in fact, patients are discouraged because they do not want to face the long periods of treatment. This can therefore lead to neglecting the care of one's teeth, with sometimes even serious consequences.
In addition, impressions can be transferred in real time by computer to specialized laboratories. This makes it possible to further shorten the time for making prostheses, etc.
The design is also simplified, in terms of communication between the dentist and the laboratory. It is also possible to immediately check the quality of the impressions, correcting any mistakes.
