Archive for July, 2009

Are conventional dental impressions obsolete?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

This week we received an inquiry from a very prominent dentist.  He was told that he could send his digital impressions to us and that we would be able to fabricate a full arch of crowns.  We were flattered by his request especially since he employs an in house full time technician but responded by saying that we felt the technology was not ready to do this.  For large cases, conventional impression making and bite recording are necessary for an ideal mounting and model creation so that optimal esthetics, occlusion and fit are possible.  It would be nice to believe that everything could be designed and created from digital impressions but it is impossible to confidently modify the restorations once fabricated by a machine without a master model.  If you are committed to excellence, conventional dental impressions are a must.