Clinical
Digital dentistry M
Improved economics with today’s technology, by Sandy Littlejohn
aterials and manufacturing techniques have progressed rapid- ly in the dental
restoration field over the past few years, but the communication between dentists and technicians for delivering indirect restorations has remained fundamentally the same. The traditional approach where an
impression is taken by the dentist, then sent to the laboratory, and then after a week the restoration returns remains prevalent. However, some practitioners are already embracing what will be the future direction of the industry – moving towards a completely digital-based restoration manufacturing process. There has been a recent increase in the popularity of metal-free restorations and resulting in an influx of CAD/CAM systems on the market to address this need. With the decreasing availability of skilled technicians able to manufacture restorations manually, laboratories have been looking toward computer aided manufacturing to improve productivity without compromising quality. Most of these CAD/CAM systems allow the technicians to deliver better consistency along with fit, marginal integrity and aesthetics. For several years now it has been
the larger labs that have enjoyed these benefits through the use of scanning technology – where models produced from traditional impressions are scanned, and computer aided design techniques are used to create a digital model of the required design. These designs (in the form of a digital file) are then sent to a manufacturing facility where the restoration is made. This approach is the most cost-effective entry point in to the digital workflow. Some of the more progressive laboratories have the capability to manufacture the final
About the author
Sandy Littlejohn is a director at Dental Technology Services (DTS) and Core3d Centres in Glasgow. He is also a qualified City and Guilds dental technician with over 25 years experience in all aspects of dentistry, specialising in implantology and digital dentistry.
Digital milling machines at DTS in Glasgow
product in-house, but the best of these technologies are industrial and costly so an outsourcing approach provide better solutions. Software packages such as Dental Designer from 3Shape with their D710 scanner, allow dental profes- sionals to gain access to a wider array of branded products through out- sourcing to specialised milling centres. This results in the delivery of more accurate and cost-effective outcomes. The recent incursion of monolithic restorations to hit the market, such as Opalite all- zirconia crowns are proof that this technology can perform consist- ently on a commercial platform. After recognising the economic and quality benefits that digitisation has had on the restoration manufac- turer, the industry is now seeing a fundamental shift towards the digital workflow from end to end. This shift towards completely digital solutions has resulted in these technologies emerging from the laboratory to reside within the dental practice. Through the expansion of
CAD/CAM technology in labs the model and the restoration can now be made simultaneously allowing for increased productivity for the average dental lab and providing faster more consistent restorations for clinicians. This type of work eliminates the need for
couriers, protects the dental lab from infection control procedures and negates inaccurate impressions. Chairside benefits of these
systems include enhanced patient comfort, and reduced chair time with a resulting increase in practice revenue. Quality of the final restora- tion is improved through the elimination of inaccurate impres- sions while also allowing clinicians to visualise tooth preparations. The streamline dental delivery
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process leverages the expertise of dental laboratories whilst enabling any desired restorative material to be prescribed. While digital impres- sions address all of the above issues it must be noted that proper tissue management remains the same challenge for both conventional and digital impressions. The dental industry has seen substantial growth in digital radiog- raphy and laboratory scanning so intra-oral chairside scanning becomes the final piece in becoming entirely digital. The digital work flow reduces
inventory, labour costs, turnaround times, remakes and returns; elimi- nates inaccurate impressions and ‘stone age’ techniques while improving on quality, accuracy and productivity. The future for making dentistry faster, more consistent and cost effective is here and now!
Scottish Dental magazine 51
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