Using advanced handheld scanning technology to create accurate, 3D images of your teeth and gums, digital dental impressions eliminate the need for messy traditional molds. These high-resolution scans improve precision for dental crowns, bridges, clear aligners, and other restorations while enhancing patient comfort. The process is quick, clean, and more efficient, allowing our Grand Rapids dentist to plan treatments with greater accuracy and deliver better-fitting, longer-lasting results.
Learn more about how we take digital dental scans below.
Key Benefits of Digital Impressions
have revolutionized the way dental impressions as a whole are taken, offering a faster, more accurate, and more comfortable experience than traditional methods. With high-resolution scanning technology, digital impressions provide improved image quality, allowing for restorations that fit more precisely and last longer.
Other advantages include:
- Improved image quality for better-fitting crowns, dental bridges, and restorations
- Less chair time—the scan typically takes just 3–5 minutes
- Greater patient comfort, with no messy impression trays or materials
- Reduced chance of impression-taking errors or distortion
- No gag reflex triggers since there are no bulky materials involved
- Accurate digital records that can be stored and accessed indefinitely
- Complete bite capture, including opposing teeth, for more accurate treatment planning
This process significantly enhances the patient experience and provides more consistent, reliable results. Additionally, because impressions like these are easily stored and shared, in-office record-keeping is improved and communication with labs or specialists is sped up when needed.
How Digital Impressions Speed Up Procedures
The transition from traditional impression materials to digital scanning has streamlined many areas of dentistry. What used to require multiple appointments and lab delays is now often completed in a fraction of the time.
Digital scans can be sent instantly to in-house milling machines or outside dental labs for quicker fabrication of crowns, bridges, aligners, and other restorations. In some cases—such as with same-day CEREC crowns—the scan is used to design and mill the final product during the same appointment.
Because the scans are highly accurate, the need for adjustments is often reduced, and there’s less back-and-forth between our Grand Rapids, MI, dental office and an outside lab. This helps ensure your final restoration is delivered and placed faster, minimizing wait times and improving overall patient satisfaction.
