The World of Digital Dentistry

Welcome to the world of digital dentistry.

It's all around us. It's integrated into everything we do and it's changing the way we live at a rapid pace. In the words of Bob Dylan, “The times they are a-changin”. Never before has the dental industry experienced such change and modern technology has inundated the dental industry at paramount levels.

Each journal we open, each blog we read and every social media site we browse include topics and advertisements about the latest and greatest mill, printer or scanner. What happened to the old days of taking plastic triple trays, loading them with a polyvinyl goo, hope it doesn't move during the set time, cross our fingers that humidity and air bubbles haven't altered your lab’s stone models, praying the die trimmer had his eyes checked last week and didn't have enough coffee to keep his hand from butchering your margin. Getting through those steps is just the beginning of getting back an accurate restoration.

Now, please understand that I took liberty to exaggerate some of the variables that could take place. Let’s be realistic. Your die trimmer doesn't drink coffee. No, seriously, Everyone I know in this business takes every precaution necessary to avoid costly remakes; and I think we all do a great job and getting great accuracy, but it can be better through digital impressions and CAD/CAM processing.

Past and Present

In 2006, only 12% of our fixed work was made by using CAD/CAM technology. Today, over 90% of our work is fabricated by CAD design, milling or wax print technology. The investments we have made has greatly improved our working times (5 days in lab), improved greater accuracy and reduced chair time. We still need talented technicians to use this technology and to layer beautiful porcelain. Basically, we have removed human error without sacrificing human ability.

We’re not alone in the quest to achieve more accurate restorations. According to a recent LMT survey, 50% of dentists are now requesting CAD/CAM restorations as the standard choice. Digital impression systems are also on the rise. Each week we are adding clients that have chosen to go to digital impression systems to further improve the accuracy and efficiency. Creating a total digital workflow with your lab is key to delivering the best restorations possible to your patients.

We've got ways to get you started in digital dentistry. Head on over and contact us for more information.