Learn the difference between Traditional and Digital Dental Impressions

What Is a Traditional Impression?

When patients need to undergo a dental procedure, such as getting an implant or being treated for their oral concern, they will require a dental impression. While it can bring about discomfort, you should assure your patient that it does not involve any pain.

To accomplish a traditional impression, a patient has to sit still, keep their mouth shut, and keep their teeth clamped as the alginate material settles and takes the shape of their teeth and gums. If the individual tends to have a strong gag reflex or a temporomandibular joint (TMJ), the whole procedure could be quite complicated for them to go through.

The dental putty you ordered from a reliable dental lab, which is used to mold the shape of a patient’s teeth and gums, does not have a prominent flavor, but some patients may beg to differ. As a result, you could witness patients having difficulty keeping it together, leading them to gag or throw up while the material sets in place.

Through the years, dental professionals only had the goopy alginate material to depend on when making impressions for their patients for bridges, crowns, and veneers. It’s a tried and tested way of giving reliable dental appliances to people who aim for better oral health.

What Is a Digital Impression?

At present, you can now obtain an advanced method of creating dental impressions through digital techniques, which a lot of dentists now choose to acquire than traditional impressions. You don’t have to utilize the goopy impression material anymore and still look forward to achieving an adequately fitted solution for smile restoration purposes.

You can benefit from two digital impression technology solutions to choose from, which include capturing images as digital photographs or as digital video. Depending on what your patient requires or what your practice can provide, both methods offer excellent results.

The digital photos or videos are created through digital scanning and lasers, with laser scanning offering accurate and safe outcomes to anyone in need. The method involves incorporating concentrated light to capture every detail of your patient’s teeth and gums.

Once you acquire the digital impression, you can send the results instantly to a dental laboratory near you without having to drop by their location or mail the impression. As a result, it improves your productivity and efficiency, and your patient can expect their dental appliance to be ready in no time.

Conclusion

Choosing between going for traditional impressions or digital impressions ultimately depends on your dental practice and whether you wish to stay with what you’re used to or try something new. Keep in mind that with the ever-changing world we live in now, it’s only necessary that you meet your patients’ demands. The best thing you can do is provide them solutions that are accurate, reliable, convenient, and offer excellent value. 

Vitality Technologies is a full-service digital dental lab specializing in cosmetic and dental restorative products. We have outfitted our laboratory with the most advanced technology and certified skilled technicians to consistently deliver the highest quality dental prosthetics. Our all-in-one dental lab eliminates the need to use multiple laboratories and ensures you get the highest quality products at the best prices.  We serve dental offices and clinics nationwide.  To learn more about going digital, visit our get started page.