– Published Feb 14, 2021 –
The future of digital dentistry – Digital Workflow
By the ToothSketch Team
New age technologies are having a transformational impact across industries and the way we live our lives. While some of the technologies are still in early stages of evolution, there are many that have established themselves as a permanent feature with clear benefits accruing to its users through better precision, efficiency, cost savings or user experience. These technologies are here to stay and are getting better by the day.
Digital workflows is one such technology that is revolutionizing dentistry the way we know it. Over the last decade, these advances have become more and more affordable, consequently leading to a manifold increase in adoption rates, increasing prevalence and accessibility for everyone in the dental supply chain.
As more and more dental practices go digital, we take a closer look at how transitioning from analogue to digital workflows is helping various dental professionals meet and exceed their clinician and end patient’s needs.
Digital workflows essentially entails using computer aided elements – hardware and software to help in scanning, case planning and designing as well as milling prosthetics. Its key benefits include:
- Better communication and collaboration Successful dentistry requires multiple stakeholders to work closely – Clinician, Technician, Manufacturer and their respective operations teams to ensure that perfect fit in a timely manner. Collaborating with digital scan files helps ensure vital instructions do not get missed, better interaction between technicians and clinicians, reducing the potential to and from and improving overall productivity.
- Improved accuracy, precision and consistency While knowledge, skill and craftsmanship of the individuals involved is something that can not be replicated, working digitally helps reduce the potential for human errors, improving overall consistency, accuracy and precision of the outputs.
- Time and cost efficiencies Digital dentistry brings efficiencies through shorter appointment times, simplifying case planning, designing and visualization as well as drastically reducing manufacturing time for dental prostheses. Reduction in transit time as well as the opportunity to manufacture chair side temporaries offers further time saving, streamlining the overall process and allowing the professionals to focus bulk of their time on critical, higher value add tasks. Additionally, reduced material consumption, both for the lab as well as chairside leads to long term cost savings as well. There is also the reduced number of remakes that digitization ensures, which also leads to further savings
- Better experience for the patient Digital dentistry and workflow enhance patient’s overall experience, with reduced invasiveness, better quality and fit along with fewer number of visits. In addition, the ability to visualize the smile before treatment commences helps the clinician set right expectations, helping the patient take more informed decisions.
- Reduced risk of infection transmission One of the biggest benefits of going digital especially as we recover from a pandemic is the reduced transmission of infection. There is no contaminated impression or model, and the limited physical interaction ensures everyone’s safety
All in all, adopting digital workflow early on can give you sound competitive advantages, putting you ahead of the market as the “Go to” lab for top quality work.
We at ToothSketch are passionate about digital workflows and have been supporting labs in various stages of their digital journey. If you are looking to take your first step in digital dentistry or planning your next round of growth, do get in touch with us to see how we can help you.