Digital Impression

The making of digital impressions involves the use of intraoral optical scanners to acquire tooth morphology, gingiva morphology, and occlusion in a digital format. Digital impressions are used for a variety of purposes including aiding in the diagnostic and treatment planning phase, fabricating a dental prosthesis, for orthodontic applications, or to fabricate surgical templates for dental implants or oral surgery procedures. Currently, the various chairside intraoral digital scanning devices are based on optical principles such as blue light-emitting diodes, blue laser technology, multiple single images that are stitched together, and continuous acquisition (streaming) of optical images. The optical scanners used in creating digital impressions depend upon a reflective surface and may require a contrasting medium or powder to acquire the surface representation of the tooth morphology. The use of technology to acquire a dental impression improves the speed and accuracy of the impression itself and can increase the comfort of the patient during the process.