The digital era in dentistry: A review

Abstract

In dentistry precisely recording the soft tissue details and adjacent tooth morphology is a critical process. It is quite challenging for the dentist since the oral hard and soft tissue structures show great variations in every patient. Conventional impression materials such as agar, alginate and elastomeric impression materials are used but these impression materials require patient’s cooperation during impression taking. These impression materials sometimes cause gagging, irritation and unpleasant taste and smell to the patient. To overcome these drawbacks digital impression and digital scanners are encouraging innovations. They increase the patient’s comfort and aids in the accuracy in recording tissue details. The development of new technology in the medical and dental fields is leading to advancements that enable physicians to create treatments and materials that can enhance patients' quality of life. Different IOSs have adopted varied scanning methodologies, which could result in different scanning accuracies. This was done to compare the accuracy of several IOSs and the effects of different variables on the accuracy result. Using 3D scanning technologies, a physical model which is digital three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) is transformed. For the design and production of specific parts using additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, this digital output offers several advantages. It is crucial to evaluate the dentistry industry's present level of 3D scanning technology utilization.