As a patient, if you’ve ever had to have a dental mould (impression), then you know how messy and gloopy they can be, which many patients find uncomfortable.
Furthermore, reports show that traditional moulds can often lead to inaccurate impressions, which can cause the model to be ill-fitted, resulting in widespread problems later on [1]. Not to mention, some materials used to make dental impressions can also cause allergic reactions in some individuals.
However, our new “iTero” digital scanner enables us to obtain a mess-free, gag-free image of your teeth utilising a safe and reliable digital scanner. This means a better dental experience for patients when receiving services such as Invisalign.
It also means you might not need moulds for crowns and bridges, night guards, dentures, implants, and more, which many of our patients love. The iTero Element scanner is also proven to be more accurate than traditional moulds, so you can enjoy greater confidence during your fitting [2].
Using our scanner, we can also track how our patient’s teeth change over time (measuring wear from grinding and cracks) and immediately simulate what their teeth can look like if they underwent Invisalign orthodontic treatment.
What is iTero?
The iTero Element 2 is the latest technological discovery in intraoral scanning that provides dentists with precision imaging via the use of optical and laser scanning.
This ensures far greater accuracy when making a diagnosis or when fitting patients for dental appliances.
In fact, at this point, the iTero scanner has been used in more than one million dental procedures, including custom implant procedures, restorative crowns, and bridge work, and trusted by doctors for more than 6 million orthodontic scans in all.
Overall, iTero is designed as an answer for patients seeking a simple and effective dental mould process, as well as dentists looking for more fun and performance in an intraoral scanner.
What Are the Benefits?
The main benefit of the iTero scanner is that eliminates the need for messy, uncomfortable dental moulds. It also provides greater accuracy.
Some other benefits of iTero include:
- Tracks changes in the mouth – it enables us to see changes in the recession of gums, cracks in teeth, and wear of teeth from grinding by comparing scans as time goes by.
- More accurate fit of crowns and bridges – by eliminating the inconsistencies of traditional impression materials the accuracy of crowns increases significantly.
- Immediate simulation of Invisalign – shows the expected results of Invisalign treatment within 2 minutes.
- Progress assessment – enables us to compare whether an Invisalign patient is on track throughout their treatment.
It Also Works with the Invisalign System
Some benefits for Invisalign patients include:
- Greater patient comfort – Traditional impressions for Invisalign can be an unpleasant experience; however, the iTero scanner eliminates many discomforts associated with traditional dental impressions for a more relaxed procedure.
- Quicker start times – Without having to post impressions over to America it means we can get your Invisalign treatment started sooner.
- Fewer fit issues – Studies show that the iTero scanner is rejected 10x less than than traditional impressions.
Is it Dangerous?
The iTero Element 2 scanner has been proven safe and effective for use as a dental impression method [4]. In fact, the iTero scanner utilises a simple camera, which means it has no CBCT volume. Instead, it captures a series of quick 3D pictures, so there is no threat of radiation.
How Does the Scanning Process Work?
To use the iTero Element 2, the dentist simply inserts the compact scanner into the patient’s mouth, and then the device scans the entire layout of the oral cavity, including each tooth as well as the gums, quickly providing the doctor with a precise 3D view of the entire mouth. The entire scanning process only takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete.
Once the device has completed the scan, the vivid images can then be reviewed by both the doctor as well as the patient, which is especially useful in cases where the doctor wants to provide the patient with a simulation of the braces or Invisalign treatment being considered.
Whether you are a patient or a dentist, the iTero Element 2 scanner helps make the dental treatment process a much easier one.
For patients, it helps eliminate the discomfort and time associated with conventional dental moulds, while also ensuring a correct impression of the mouth, which helps ensure a better fitting dental appliance. Meanwhile, for doctors, the iTero scanner enables you to provide your patients with quality, high-tech services for improved treatments.
References
[1] Successful Impression Taking. First Time, Every Time. [Online] [Accessed April 2019] https://www.durodent.com.au/
[2] Comparing the accuracy of master models based on digital intra-oral scanners with conventional plaster casts. 2016 [Online] [Assessed April 2019]
https://www.sciencedirect.com/
[3] Invisalign Certified Connectivity. 2019. [Online] [Assessed April 2019] http://www.itero.com/en
[4] Digital Versus Conventional Impressions in Fixed Prosthodontics: A Review. 2016. [Online] [Assessed April 2019] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jopr.12527
