Digital Workflows for Everyday Dentistry

 Technology is deeply engrained in our personal and social lives, but what about our professional lives as dentists? Clinical dentistry is embracing the application of digital technologies to replace the analog techniques with which we are so comfortable. While this is especially true in the realm of impression making procedures and chair side prosthesis manufacturing, processes can be digitized at each phase of restorative and implant treatment, resulting in the virtualization of the patient from diagnosis through prosthesis delivery.

These digital dentistry technologies will be explored to generate familiarity with their capabilities, advantages, disadvantages, and limitations. With the adoption of these technologies the roster of the care team may change, the role of some players may be enhanced, while others may be minimized, and ultimately new members may be recruited. Are these technologies jeopardizing the role of the dental technologist as a member of the team?

This course will trace the integration of digital dentistry into the everyday restorative practice.

Course Objectives:

The goals of the presentation are to:

 1.     Illustrate the clinical incorporation of intra-oral scanning into diagnostic and treatment planning workflows

2.     Describe how CBCT radiographic data can integrate with CAD/CAM systems to enhance dental implant therapy

3.     Demonstrate the leveraging of open-architecture file transfer protocols into trusted connections for the delivery of everyday edentulous and partially edentulous implant prostheses.