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If you’ve ever had orthodontic treatment, dentures, a crown, a veneer, or a bridge, you’ve probably also had an impression using a tray full of soft, sticky putty.
Impressions aren’t exactly a pleasant experience, but they are essential for many types of dental treatments. That’s because impressions act as a mold or model that helps guide your treatment, so your results are predictable and all you expect them to be.
Thanks to the size of the trays and the consistency of the sticky putty, many people find dental impressions cause gagging and discomfort. But there’s a better way to get dental impressions — a way that doesn’t involve putty, trays, or uncomfortable gagging.
It’s a digital process that captures the sizes, shapes, and positions of your teeth, and as a top dental practice in San Jose, California, The Glen Dental is also a leading provider of digital impressions. Here’s how they work.
Digital impressions use computer technology to scan your teeth, gums, and jaws, capturing precise measurements to help us map out your treatment or model your teeth for comfortable, natural-looking restorations.
Once we collect the data, we send it to a computer equipped with modeling software. The computer uses the measurements to create a highly detailed three-dimensional model of your teeth, gums, and other structures.
In addition to greater comfort, digital impressions offer other benefits. First, images can be stored on a computer, where we can easily access them during your treatment. We can also easily share them with a dental lab or other treatment providers using secure file sharing.
Perhaps most important, digital scans are extremely accurate — more precise than clunky plaster molds. Plus, they don’t require physical storage space like plaster molds, since the digital images are all computerized.
Digital impressions use a special tool called an intraoral scanner. Despite the large name, intraoral scanners are small and slim, fitting comfortably in your mouth.
During your impressions appointment, we pass the scanner around and along your teeth and jaws, capturing data that’s used to create your 3D computerized models. The entire process takes just a few minutes, and because there are no trays or sticky putty, you don’t have to worry about discomfort or gagging.
The scanner automatically transmits data to our computer, which uses them to create the detailed images we can use to map out and track your treatment.
At The Glen Dental, our team is dedicated to offering state-of-the-art technology aimed at providing truly customized care tailored to each patient’s unique needs and goals. Digital impressions are just one way our dentists help patients look and feel their best with less hassle and more predictable, more beautiful results.
To learn more about digital impressions, call 408-816-1008 or book an appointment online at The Glen Dental today.
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