3 Benefits of Digital Dental Impressions

In the past, whenever you needed some dental hardware (braces, night guards, veneers, crowns) you would need to get a dental impression done of your teeth. This is to make sure that the hardware formed in the lab perfectly matches your mouth and your teeth, so you get the best possible results.

These impressions are done with a gooey clay-like mix that often tastes not great, might make you gag, and has to stay in your mouth attached to your teeth for at least two minutes.

With the advancements in technology, there are now a few options for digital dental impressions taking away that awkward experience with physical dental impressions.

Here are three reasons why you might choose to get digital dental impressions.

1 – Takes less time

Traditionally, when getting dental impressions done you do one set of teeth at a time (for hardware that goes on the top and bottom). This means you have to prep a tray for the top teeth, set it, and wait for it to dry (about five minutes). Then, you remove it, wash the leftover putty out of the mouth and set the

second tray, letting it dry (another five minutes).

If all goes well, the total process is anywhere from 15-20 minutes, but can be longer if you need to capture a second impression.

With the digital dental impressions, your dentist will prep your teeth and then use a wand to capture the top and bottom teeth. This process takes around 90 seconds, maybe two minutes.

2 – Quicker turnaround

With physical dental impressions, your dentist will send the impressions off to the lab so they can be reviewed and then your dental hardware created. This process takes a decent amount of time due to the nature of mailing things.

With digital dental impressions, your dentist can immediately send the digital images to the lab for review and creation. This cuts down the time significantly, meaning you can have your night guard or veneers even sooner than before.

3 – Better accuracy

In practice, digital dental impressions are extremely accurate. They can capture the smallest details which means their accuracy is very high. However, infrequently when a scan is not possible physical impression is done.

Better accuracy in the initial impressions means that your final product fits better and needs less

adjustments or worst case, recreations.

Not every dentist offers digital dental impressions and not every patient may want them, but if you are interested in digital impressions, check with your dentist to see what they offer. Digital dental impressions can be a great alternative to the traditional physical impression method.

As always, make sure you are scheduling your annual exams – it is never to early to get all your 2023 appointments made!