Digital Impressions and Scanners Dentaltown editorial director Dr. Tom Giacobbi says: Digital impressions were still a small player in clinical dentistry when labs were busy converting their operations to a digital workflow. Now dentists are seeing the benefits of adding a digital impression to those existing workflows. The marketplace has many great options, and the dentists on Dentaltown.com can give you terrific stories of their experiences with this technology. Townies are asking: "I'm curious about how digital scanning can fit into our practice, from digital impressions for crown and bridge to impressions for Invisalign all the way to integrating a scan with our CBCT to create surgery guides. I still have the curiosity, but I just purchased a new scanner that should help us satisfy all the questions we've had." Dr. Guy Nash, Temecula, California "guyrnash" "I have an interest in digital impressions because I use them now. I use a 3M True Definition scanner and email my digital impressions to the lab. I am very happy with the advantages of the digital impressions. There are some minor problems and I've wondered if others have them also. I have had tremendous success with scanning natural teeth but have had some minor problems with scanning implants. Don't know if others have had any issues. Another unrelated issue: Why do most labs highly polish abutments? In most situations it does not make a difference. I know it should be polished at the tissue level, but why does the surface of the implant abutment (that is going to be touching cement) have to be polished? Shorter abutments I do use screw through one stage, but this is not always an option. A matte finish to bond would give better retention. Do we dentists want this highly polished cemented surface or do the labs think we want that surface?" Dr. G. William Walker, Butler, Pennsylvania "docgww" 76 JUNE 2018 // dentaltown.comhttp://www.Dentaltown.com http://www.dentaltown.com