One of the most significant advances to arrive in the dental market in recent years has been the introduction of the intraoral scanner. Both patients and dentists alike are now increasingly enjoying the benefits that this technology offers their practice.
As with any new clinical technique, practice makes perfect, but here we’ve pulled together a few tips and ideas to ensure you are hopefully making the very most of your new introral scanner.
Dry the teeth
Before you start scanning, it’s a good idea to clean the teeth of any excess saliva that might be present as this will help collect the image you need much faster
You could also use 3 in 1 to remove saliva, but ask the client to swallow before you start as this will speed things up and save you precious time.
Capture the gum area
To stop aligners from flaring at the edges, it’s a good idea to capture at least 3-5 mm of gum in the scan. If a flare is present, you might requested to do the re-scan again which will cause delays for the patient, so it is of course best to do it right and capture the gum area the first time around.
Clean your screen
Once the scan has been completed and you are standing around waiting for the image to appear, you can use these few moments to give your scanner a wipe down as this will save you time after the appointment has come to an end.
Educate your patient
One of the main benefits of an intraoral digital scanner is that it enables you to show the patient exactly what you can see.
With many people believing their teeth are almost perfect and need little or no treatment, the ability to point out potential problems or areas that require attention in a visual scan is a good way of encouraging them to book further appointments or educate them on ways to stop the same thing happening again.
Learn more about digital technology on one of our postgraduate dental education courses.
