Software in Dentistry
Once upon a time, I was an undergraduate student with a passion for dentistry. I still do, but with a different perspective! Let me explain..
My journey with dentistry started when I was in high school when I spent an entire summer shadowing my local orthodontist. It was an opportunity of a lifetime! I gained first hand experience of all that went on in an orthodontic practice. The tools, the procedures, the patient-doctor interaction, and more specific to this blog, the technology.
Fast forward another 4 years, and I got to work full time in a dental office. Within those 4 years, dental practices changed forever. The software exponentially improved as there was a shift from analog to digital dentistry. There’s no way around it: the future of dentistry is inevitably digital. With cutting-edge digital dental technologies for impressions, treatment planning, design, and 3D printing, what was once prohibitively expensive is rapidly becoming accessible, already transforming thousands of dental practices and labs worldwide.
Here are just a few examples:
As CAD/CAM continues to replace traditional workflows and become the standard of dental care, digital solutions have become a necessary consideration for any dental business.
Fast and easy designs with the CEREC Software: Thanks to its clear and visually appealing operation, the CEREC Software guarantees intuitive use from the very beginning. Its intelligent automation enables a fast, effortless process. A particular highlight of the CEREC Software is its analysis of the whole scan when calculating the initial proposal, which guarantees highly-esthetical, individual restoration proposals. With the CEREC Software you can be sure to offer your patients the highest quality and aesthetics at all time.
Workflow Between Lab and Practice
Just like there is a workflow in software engineering, there is a workflow in dentistry and the workflow has changed completely in such a short span of time:
The Digital Dentistry Workflow
With a wide range of dental specialties from general dentistry to implantology, prosthodontics, and orthodontics, the design of different treatments and prostheses varies somewhat by specialty and application, but they all follow the same basic workflow.
1. Scan
Like traditional dental product fabrication, digital production starts with the patient’s individual anatomy. 3D intraoral scanners can be used in the dental practice to capture scans digitally from the patient, replacing manual impressions with fast and accurate impressions. Alternately, desktop optical scanners in dental labs can be used to scan traditional impressions or plaster models. For treatments and applications that require patient osteotomy, such as surgical guides for implant placement, an additional dataset needs to be collected using CBCT scanners.
Recommended tools
- For a dental practice: 3D intraoral scanner, CBCT scanner (optional)
- For a dental lab: desktop optical scanner
2. Plan and Design
After scanning, patient anatomical data is imported into dental CAD software for planning treatments and designing prosthetics, mock-ups, and models. Most dental software packages use design processes very similar to traditional methods, employing highly visual interfaces with features like virtual articulators that are familiar to technicians. Digital design results in easier, more precise treatments and simplified communication. After the treatments are designed, models can be exported for manufacturing. If a remake is needed, the same digital design can be reused without additional effort.
Recommended tools for both dental practices and labs: Dental CAD software
3. Manufacture
To physically realize a digital model of a dental product, 3D models are uploaded to the CAM or nesting software and then sent to a 3D printer or a milling machine. 3D printers are common in both labs and practices and can produce a variety of products, including dental models, surgical guides, splints, retainers, wax-ups, castable patterns, and dentures. 3D printers work by solidifying parts layer by layer to form the shape of the dental appliances and models with digital precision. To create orthodontic appliances like clear aligners or retainers, manufacture them over the 3D printed models using existing workflows and tools such as thermoforming.
Milling machines are more common in dental labs, but also have some limited applicability to the dental practice as well. These are typically used to create final restorations by subtracting from a solid block of material, such as zirconia.
Recommended tools
- For a dental practice: 3D printer
- For a dental lab: 3D printer, milling machine
Dental Management Software
More than 35,000 dental practices rely on Dentrix® practice management software. Dentrix leads the dental software market by providing solutions for both the clinical and business sides of your practice. Plus, Dentrix helps you build your practice with integrated eServices — innovative dental software that adds new capabilities to your system — and “Dentrix Connected” products from top dental technology companies. You can equip your practice with Dentrix dental software now and enrich it for years to come with our growing network of partner products.
