Digital dentistry—in one form or another—has been around since at least the 1980s with CAD/CAM technology. However, back then it was for larger labs that could afford such equipment. Smaller labs and dental practices were unable to benefit from the technology, and it’s only been in the last 10/15 years that it’s become more accessible.

Nowadays, there is technology to improve everything from appointment scheduling, to x-rays, molds, cosmetics, orthodontics, and splints. And as the technology has improved, it has become more accessible for dental professionals no matter the size of their lab or their practice.

This has allowed dental professionals to provide a wide range of treatments, increasing their patient base and patient retention.

Types of digital dentistry

Digital dentistry comes in many forms: digital x-rays, digital smile design, intraoral cameras, various apps, and much more.

Having this technology in practice can allow dentists to see more patients without compromising patient care or quality of services.

5 advantages of digital dentistry

Digital dentistry speeds up many treatments, and improves the accuracy of molds and prosthetics. Here are 5 advantages of digital dentistry:

1.  Clearer images

Digital x-rays and intraoral cameras provide clearer images, allowing dentists to see precisely what is going on in the mouth. The advantage of this is it’s easier to see exactly what’s going on in the mouth and provide better preventive care.

2.  Better for the environment

Rather than requiring chemicals to develop pictures, digital imagery doesn’t and this makes it better the environment.

3.   Immediate visualization

Once digital imagery is taken, the pictures can be seen immediately so consults and treatments can move ahead sooner.

4.  Easy storage and retrieval of images

No more need for physical storage. Which means a meaningful reduction in paper files and the need for storage space. It also makes it easier to share the images with other health professionals as well as with dental labs.

5.  Digital smile design

For those patients looking to get cosmetic dentistry, digital smile design has been a huge advancement for cosmetic dentistry. This technology allows dental professionals to show patient how their smile will look after they’ve had treatment.

By doing this, patients are able to see what their smile will look like after implants, crowns, veneers, or braces.

Digital dentistry is more efficient and precise

Overall, digital dentistry provides a more precise and efficient experience. For both the dental professional and the patient.

Used properly, it significantly helps in reducing human error, and provides lab techs, dentists and orthodontists with a clear—and accurate—picture to work from.

For those dentists with a particular focus on preserve as much of the natural tooth as possible, the precision of digital dentistry enables less invasive techniques to be used. Which means that the dental tools don’t need to come out until there’s a precise idea of what the most effective and necessary treatment is to solve each patient’s particular needs.

As previously mentioned, with the quality of digital x-rays problems can be diagnosed earlier. The advantage of this is means that the only tooth material removed is the unhealthy material that requires removal.

Providing quality products for digital solutions

Tru-Tain provides a wide range of quality digital solutions that specifically designed for the dental industry.

We offer a wide variety of Keyprint products by Keystone from the standard through to the more specialized products to help all dental professionals achieve their desired result.

Keyprint products are ideal for medical devices such as splints and ortho trays, as well as laboratory resins. Tru-Tain also offers denture base discs as well as flex and hard wax discs.