Best Practices for Restoring Implants with Digital Impressions
With the right techniques and resources, digital implant impressions can be taken on practically any brand of intra-oral scanner. This includes brands like CEREC®, 3M Tru Def™, 3shape Trios®, Itero®, Carestream, and others.
The only limiting factor would be the inability to share your scanned file with your dental lab.
Some systems like CEREC and Trios are set up to transfer their files directly from your scanning system to our designing system. With other systems, you might be required to transfer the file to the lab through physical media (such as a USB thumb drive) or through a cloud-based sharing platform.
Watch the Video Instead
Techniques for Taking Impressions of Implants
In order to take a digital impression of an implant, the first thing you need to do is acquire the proper Intra-oral scanbody. Scanbodies are specific to the brand of implant that you’re using. They attach directly to the implant, much like a traditional impression coping, and are present during the digital scan.
Once you’ve captured the digital impression, our lab can then line up the scan body from your scan with the library version (in our software) to determine the exact location of the implant. This step-by-step process allows us to design an abutment on the virtual analog, as well as print a physical model with the analog in place.
3 Shape design matching scanbody with a virtual analog
Selection of Scanbody
Depending on the brand of abutment you’re using, there’s usually more than one scanbody to choose from. It’s unique for each system, so you’ll want to make sure you select the appropriate one for the type of abutment you plan to order.
For example, if you want an Atlantis abutment, you should use an Atlantis scanbody.
Need Help?
Our experienced lab technicians are familiar with the ins and outs of every popular dental implant brand and scanbody system. For questions on how to capture a digital impression of your implant case and securely forward it to our lab for crown fabrication, feel free to reach out! We’re always available to assist you.
