Australasian Dental Practice

Tuesday, 26 August, 2025

31 May 2012 | Australasian Dental Practice

news > Spectrum > Page 16

Witnessing the evolution of digital impression solutions

Digital Impressions Intraoral Scanning Digital Dentistry

Dr Svend Carlsen has been a dentist for over 50 years and has always taken an active interest in the most advanced technologies within the dental profession. Today, he runs his Herregaard Center Dental Clinic in Faaborg, Denmark, using the brand new 3Shape TRIOS digital impression system on a daily basis.


"Since 1982, I've used various types of intra-oral scanners for taking impressions digitally with varying degrees of success," he said. "A little over a year ago, I attended an event that included a demonstration of 3Shape's TRIOS system. This experience renewed my belief that digital impression technologies could, in fact, fulfill all our needs. Today we use the 3Shape TRIOS system for most of the impressions in our clinic for single-tooth crowns and bridges.

"With some other digital impression systems that I've used, there has been a need to make small corrections before the final crown could be placed in the patient's mouth. This should not be necessary.

"One of the great benefits of using TRIOS is being able to view an enlarged image of the prepared tooth, with every detail clearly displayed. This enables you to identify and immediately correct areas where the tooth preparation is not sufficiently smooth or sharp. This level of control means that only correct information is sent to the laboratory. It also provides effective control of our own work.

"Patients are also rather impressed that we can take an impression so quickly and so easily. I think that the high degree of control that dentists can demonstrate with this technology creates a greater sense of security for patients. Patients can follow their own treatment on the screen and thus better understand what it entails."

Dr Carlsen said that ease-of-use was a further advantage of the 3Shape TRIOS digital impression system.

"With previous systems, it was necessary to maintain a completely steady hand while scanning. The slightest movement of the patient or the operator's hand was enough to create a useless image. The new scanners allow a high degree of freedom of movement and this makes it much easier to get a good picture."

3Shape TRIOS captures a digital impression in the clinic and transmits the design to the laboratory to create the restoration.

"From my own experience, chairside milling systems are tempting for many dentists. In relation to my business, I have no doubt that it's better for me to outsource my milling needs. More importantly, in my opinion, skilled dental technicians will usually provide better restorations than dentists can. They are simply better artists and have had more practice."

So have digital impression solutions come to stay?

"I think that digital impression taking will soon be commonplace in all clinics. Even in a little town such as ours, all four dental clinics are equipped with their own digital impression systems. Actually, we find that our area's high-tech profile affects competition because it helps us attract patients from other cities. We also see a clear trend amongst laboratories. More and more labs are working with advanced digital systems that allow them to mill crowns directly from our digital impressions - without first manufacturing a model. This means that we can get our crowns back from the lab even faster."

Stream the latest dental videos...
How the market may influence your home buying strategy

Upcoming Events...

Jan 01 2025
Aug 28 2025

ABSO Meeting 2025

Hamilton Island, AUSTRALIA

Aug 28 2025
Sep 03 2025

AAPD 2025

Kuta, INDONESIA

Sep 09 2025
Sep 11 2025

Veneers: A Comprehensive Guide

Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Sep 12 2025
Sep 13 2025
Sep 17 2025

PharMed Cambodia 2025

Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA

Sep 17 2025

Get Ready to Grin... Webinar

Online via Zoom, AUSTRALIA

Sep 19 2025
Sep 20 2025
Sep 25 2025
Sep 29 2025

PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2025

Las Vegas, USA

Oct 02 2025

IAO 2025

Padova, ITALY

Oct 02 2025

ITI Congress Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL

Oct 09 2025

Pragodent 2025

Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC

Oct 15 2025
Oct 16 2025
Oct 16 2025

DDS Global Congress 2025

Venice, ITALY

Oct 16 2025

OHAA 2025 National Congress

Gold Coast, AUSTRALIA

Oct 22 2025

Webinar with Professor Rocío Lazo

Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Oct 24 2025
Nov 05 2025

ITI Congress Mexico

Mérida, MEXICO

Nov 06 2025
Nov 07 2025

ITI Congress Italy

Bologna, ITALY

Nov 08 2025

CDSS 2025

Singapore, SINGAPORE

Nov 14 2025
Nov 20 2025
Nov 28 2025
Dec 05 2025

8th Dental Expo 2025

Lahore, PAKISTAN

Apr 17 2026

IDEM Singapore 2026

Singapore, SINGAPORE

May 20 2026
May 29 2026
Nov 27 2026
Nov 26 2027
Nov 24 2028