Digital Developments in Dentistry: The Accuracy of New Digital Techniques

Digital technology, including CAD/CAM design software and the use of intraoral scanning, is becoming ubiquitous within the dental industry. Many clinicians, currently in the process of adopting and integrating these new tools into their practices, seek information about the overall accuracy and success rate of the outcomes that digital methods produce, particularly in comparison with traditional analog approaches. Multiple clinical studies provide the data these clinicians are seeking; reported results from various sources demonstrate that the results gleaned from digital dentistry can meet or exceed those achieved through traditional methods in accuracy, time and money saved, and patient comfort.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• List the various aspects of traditional impressions that lead to inaccurate results.
• Describe at least three documented advantages to the use of digital impression methods.
• Discuss how 3D imaging, artificial intelligence, and other types of computer technology contribute to the accuracy of proposals designed with CAD/CAM software.
• Describe, in general terms, the overall trend in recent study results regarding the accuracy and success of CAD/CAM-based restorations.

About the Author

Justin Chi, DDS, CDT
​Glidewell Laboratories
Irvine, California