Getting Impressions Right First Time

Time is a valuable and precious commodity, which should be managed wisely in order to generate the best and most cost effective practices. As well as treating their patients with knowledge and skill, dental professionals have to manage their time and resources to work effectively within the team. Practitioners must be constantly mindful to set up and implement the most proficient practice procedures to ensure a successful, time efficient and stress free working day.

Digital impression systems are now popular with practitioners, as not only do they increase clinical accuracy, but they also reduce overall procedure time. The conventional impression procedure is often associated with imperfections and inaccuracies and is generally uncomfortable for patients. Furthermore traditional methods have the potential to lead to lengthy corrections, remakes, faulty restorations and ineffective use of professional time.

Creating conventional impressions can be messy, prone to problems with drag and setting and often make patients feel vulnerable. The taste of impression fluid is unpleasant and many patients find it difficult to control the gag reflex. Often dentists must take time away from the procedure to relax patients and address unexpected side effects. The importance of careful technique to create a dental impression first time round is paramount as any errors can have a detrimental effect on the patient’s experience and confidence in their dentist.

Some Some dentists have noted that in many dental procedures, a minor mistake can be corrected or adjusted quickly, without the patient knowing that anything has gone amiss. However, this is not the case with impression taking. Retakes make it obvious to patients that something has gone wrong, and typically patients are not very pleased about having to undergo the procedure again. This makes the impression-taking process a very important step, with the potential to have a big impact on the patient’s confidence in the dentist’s skills.

The use of digital impression scanners means that patients receive a more comfortable, non-evasive procedure with the advantage of radically improved accuracy. Although the actual scanning procedure can take approximately five minutes longer to complete than conventional impressions, the digital alternative reduces the risk of errors and the potential need for remakes. The treatment instills increased confidence in the patient and the practitioner is able to produce a precise digital impression of a patient’s mouth within minutes.

Impressions can be cleanly made using digital images. The images and data can be easily integrated and sent wirelessly to CAD/CAM systems, milling units and laboratories. The advanced intraoral scanning technique saves precious time communicating patient’s details and requirements to technicians and reduces the potential for human error.

As digital intraoral scanning has the potential to produce high quality, anatomically accurate images, the precision of the scans facilitates natural, functional restorations requiring fewer alterations and adjustments. Practitioners are even able to expand their digital technology with additional equipment and software to enable them to scan, design, model and mill restorations and crowns chair-side, if they wish. This choice provides maximum flexibility to the practitioner. Due to the accuracy of the scanning techniques, a considerable amount of time can be saved at the fitting stage reducing the overall treatment time.

The CS 3500 intraoral scanner from Carestream Dental provides practitioners with the ability to obtain 2D and 3D detailed images and precise colour matching. The handpiece can be angled up to 45 degrees and is able to scan to a depth range from -2mm to +13mm. It also incorporates an innovative light guidance system designed to optimise image and data capture while enabling the dental professional to concentrate on the patient rather than watching a monitor. The CS 3500 is fully portable; it does not require an external heater, powder, liquids or trolley system and can be plugged into any workstation using a USB cable. These features streamline the scanning process, saving time and providing an improved treatment experience to patients.

Fast results without errors keep patients happy and confident in their dental service. Many individuals are nervous or simply find it difficult to allow the time to attend multiple appointments. The potential for a reduction in treatment time is an extremely valuable asset, and patients cannot help being impressed and pleased with the care they receive. Confidence in their dentist grows, and satisfied patients means that dentists can enjoy the benefits of return visits, recommendations and increased referrals. Furthermore when procedures are time effective and accurate, a growth in business strength follows naturally.

For more information, contact Carestream Dental on 0800 169 9692 or visit www.carestreamdental.co.uk