After living with an excruciating toothache or suffering a blow to the mouth, you’re more than ready to get rid of the decay and have your tooth back. After getting a procedure like a root canal to repair your smile, your dentist will have you fitted for a custom crown or other restoration to protect the tooth and complete your smile. Though traditional impressions can be used to do this, they aren’t the only option. Read on to learn how digital impressions can result in a better-fitting dental restoration.
Why Does the Way Restorations Fit Matter?
At first glance, dental crowns may look similar to one another. But, since each smile is unique, so is each crown. The shape of one’s teeth as well as the way they curve differs from person to person. These elements come together to create your bite, which is an important part of properly chewing and digesting your food.
For this reason, it’s important that your dentist designs your dental crown to fit perfectly. If it doesn’t, this can lead to bite alignment issues, changes in how you eat, and jaw pain. A crooked bite can also lead to premature dental wear, which means that you’ll need to get more restorations in the future to repair your pearly whites.
How Do Traditional Impressions Fall Short?
Though traditional tooth impressions can still result in a properly fitting restoration, there are several ways in which the process can go wrong. First of all, your dentist’s assistant will need to hold the impression tray perfectly in place for a few minutes so that an accurate cast of your teeth can be captured. Even if they have steady hands, this still allows room for error. One accidental move can result in a mold of your teeth that doesn’t accurately represent them.
Second, traditional tooth impressions are often uncomfortable for patients. They use a goopy, messy putty that shapes to the teeth and causes many patients to gag, which makes it more difficult for the dental assistant to hold it in place. Unfortunately, these errors are often not apparent until the impressions are sent off to the dental lab. In this case, you will need to return to your dentist’s office to have the impressions redone.
How Do Digital Impressions Improve How Restorations Fit?
While the traditional method leaves room for error, digital impressions use technology that does all the heavy lifting to make things less likely to go wrong. A small device will be inserted into your mouth to digitally measure and capture all the necessary information to create a perfect mold of your pearly whites. Within a few minutes, this will result in an accurate 3D model of your teeth that can be viewed on a screen. This allows the dental lab to fabricate a natural-looking restoration.
Though the traditional method can still work, digital impressions are the way to go. This allows your dentist to ensure that your restorations perfectly fit your smile and give it a gorgeous, healthy glow!
About the Practice
Led by Dr. Monisha Khanna and Dr. Mario Denicola, Harrisonburg Family and Cosmetic Dentistry takes great pride in administering a wide range of exceptional preventive, restorative, cosmetic, and emergency dental services to patients. If you are in need of a dental crown, they use digital impressions to ensure that your new restoration is as accurate as possible. To learn more about Harrisonburg Family and Cosmetic Dentistry or to set up an appointment with their talented team, visit their website or call their office at (540) 432-6616.