Despite the rapid advancements in digital dentistry and the rise in the adoption of digital intraoral scanners, some practices are still using the traditional approach. We believe anyone practicing dentistry today has wondered about whether they should make the transition to digital impressions. The way dentists send cases to their lab is changing from sending a conventional physical impression of the patient's dentition to 3D data captured by an intraoral scanner. Just ask some of your peers, and chances are one of them has already gone digital and enjoyed the digital workflow. IOS can help dentists deliver higher quality dentistry more efficiently by enhancing patient comfort and the predictable results in the final restoration, they are becoming a powerful tool for practices in recent years. However, it is still difficult for some dentists to change their daily routines to digital workflow because they must leave their comfort zone.
In this blog, we will explore some of the reasons behind dentists who remain not going digital.
Despite the rapid advancements in digital dentistry and the rise in the adoption of digital intraoral scanners, some practices are still using the traditional approach. We believe anyone practicing dentistry today has wondered about whether they should make the transition to digital impressions. The way dentists send cases to their lab is changing from sending a conventional physical impression of the patient's dentition to 3D data captured by an intraoral scanner. Just ask some of your peers, and chances are one of them has already gone digital and enjoyed the digital workflow. IOS can help dentists deliver higher quality dentistry more efficiently by enhancing patient comfort and the predictable results in the final restoration, they are becoming a powerful tool for practices in recent years. However, it is still difficult for some dentists to change their daily routines to digital workflow because they must leave their comfort zone.
In this blog, we will explore some of the reasons behind dentists who remain not going digital.
Price & ROI
The biggest barrier to buying an intraoral scanner is the initial capital outlay. When it comes to an intraoral scanner, one of the main things that dentists bring up a lot is the price and think that's quite a lot of money. Price and return on investment are obviously key considerations when purchasing an intraoral scanner. But we also can’t miss the advantages of using it, you can generate massive efficiencies in what you're doing, the time it's going to save you, and the reality is that an IOS is more accurate, so retaking impressions is almost wiped out completely. The days of getting things back from a lab that doesn't fit have long gone with digital impressions. Besides, scanners today have become more affordable and you should focus on the long-term benefits.
My lab is not a digital lab
One of the reasons holding dentists back from going digital is a stable relationship with their current lab. If you're considering purchasing a digital scanner, you'll have to think about what your relationship with your lab is like. Are your lab equipped for digital workflows, all that sort of thing and you need to discuss with them. Many dentists have established long-term relationships with their labs and there is an effective workflow between each other. Both dentists and labs have become used to a certain workflow that provides good results. So why bother to change? However, everyone can feel that digital technology is the inevitable trend, some dentists don’t want to change simply because their lab is not a digital dental lab, and buying an intraoral scanner means they need to work with a new lab. Any lab today should adopt the latest technology to keep pace with their clients’ needs or they may end up hindering their long-term growth potential. By changing to a digital dental lab, they can optimize the design and production workflow and expand the opportunities for new services for their practice clients.
Just an alternative and I'm not tech-savvy
"It's just an impression." Dentists who think this way are missing the key benefit of IOS. That is to elevate the overall treatment experience. The 3D intraoral scanner is a powerful promotional and marketing tool that directly demonstrates the patient's oral condition, allowing the dentist to communicate and interact with patients like never before. And with digital impressions you can better explain the treatment plan, thus increasing treatment acceptance and achieving practice growth.
Worry about IOS limitations
When the intraoral scanner was first introduced, there was a lot of room for improvement, especially in terms of accuracy and ease of use, and dentists may have the impression that the intraoral scanner was not very useful and had a steep learning curve: why spend a lot of money on a digital device that is hard to use and can not even generate results as good as a traditional impression workflow? Even if the patient experience is more comfortable, what’s the point if the final result is not accurate and can’t fit？ In fact, with the rapid development of intraoral scanning technology in recent years, the accuracy and ease of use of digital intraoral scanners have greatly improved. It's usually the operator that's made a mistake, and most of the current limitations can be circumvented with a good clinical technique of the operator.
No idea how to choose an intraoral scanner
Some dental clinics already have the idea of investing in intraoral scanners, but struggle to know how to choose one. Today, there are a number of companies offering intraoral scanners and their prices and software functionalities range wildly. The thing you need to do is to get the right scanner, the one that can be integrated into your practice seamlessly and become part of your daily workflow quickly. Our advice for you is that it depends on your primary need and you should try the scanner in your hands to see how it works for you, and how you feel when using it. Check out this blog for more info on how to choose an intraoral scanner.
Post time: Jul-01-2022
