Digital Impressions
The field of dentistry has seen many changes in recent years. Technological developments have allowed us to vastly improve the quality of care that we can provide for you. At Shenandoah Family Dentistry, we are proud to offer the latest, most cutting-edge dental technology in our office. Included in the technology that we use is digital impressions.
What Are Digital Impressions?
It used to be that when we needed to take an impression of your mouth, we would have to use impression putty. This putty could be messy and uncomfortable. It could also be inaccurate, resulting in ill-fitting restorations and the need for multiple impressions.
Digital impressions are different. Rather than messy impression putty, we use an optical scanner to capture an impression of your teeth and gums. The scanner is a compact, handheld wand that we pass over your teeth to take the impression. The scanner is radiation-free, and it only takes a few minutes to completely scan your mouth. Once the scan is complete, the impression is then displayed almost instantly in 3D on a computer monitor.
Uses for Digital Impressions
Digital impressions can be used for some different things including:
| • |
Designing dental restorations, including veneers, crowns, bridges, inlays and onlays, and dental implants. Digital impressions provide us with exact one to one measurements of your mouth. With these images, we can create custom restorations that are more likely to fit perfectly in your mouth once they have been created.
|
| • |
Same day dental restorations. Some types of digital impression systems including in-office milling machines, which enable the creation of dental restorations in a single appointment.
|
| • |
Planning orthodontic treatment. Digital impressions can be used for creating clear aligners to correct the appearance of crooked teeth. |
Benefits of Digital Impressions
Benefits of digital impressions include:
| • |
Scans only take a few minutes of your time.
|
| • |
They are not messy. There is no impression putty involved. Instead, your impression is taken using a handheld wand.
|
| • |
Improved accuracy. Because of the exact measurements provided by the impressions, the restorations that are made are much more accurate and are much more likely to fit properly in your mouth. This means that there is less of a chance that your restoration will need to be remade.
|
| • |
Your digital impressions can easily be stored in your digital file. From there, they can easily be accessed or sent to other offices if necessary.
|
| • |
There is a faster turnaround time on your restorations.
|
| • |
Reduced anxiety. Some patients experience anxiety over traditional dental impressions. This is often because traditional impressions can cause gagging or discomfort. Because digital impressions are so easy, there is less anxiety involved.
|
| • |
Fewer appointments are needed. With traditional impressions, there is often the need for multiple appointments to ensure a restoration that fits comfortably and properly within your mouth. Thanks to digital impressions, you require fewer appointments.
|
| • |
Higher patient satisfaction. |
With digital impressions, we can get the information we need to create custom fit restorations and more, all without the need for messy impression putty. For more information, call Shenandoah Family Dentistry today at (540) 773-0011. |
