ONE OF THE LEAST enjoyable steps to getting braces, clear aligners or retainers is having an impression taken of your teeth. But what if there was a piece of technology that rendered this step unnecessary? Good news, because that’s precisely what the Intraoral Scanner does!
We presently have two digital scanners, and it has revolutionized and changed our practice so much!! The scanner works by taking hundreds of photos of a person’s mouth/teeth in minutes. These scans are sent out immediately; eliminating the need to pour up impressions, package them and then mail them out. From these scans, dental labs and various orthodontic companies can then fabricate different appliances and clear aligners. We are hoping very soon to fabricate our retainers by using our scanners. Our goal is to eventually be an impression-less office, where patients will no longer have to deal with the unpleasant experience of taking impressions. Many people dread impressions because of the taste or causing a gag reflex.
The scanners we have are very fast; scans usually take 15-30 minutes. We have had a digital scanner in our office now since January of 2017. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response not only from our staff but also from patients that have had both impressions and a scan taken (they always say the digital scanner was 100 times easier and overall a more positive experience).