iTero Digital Dental Scanner
To start the process of providing orthodontic care for your child or teen, we need a map of their mouth. Digital technology has advanced to provide the best possible mapping device — a digital scanner. Before the development of a digital dental scanner, we used to take impressions by placing goopy molding material in the mouth and using metal support trays. Now, digital scanning offers a more accurate and less invasive way to generate a picture of your child’s mouth.
At Fox Kids Dentistry & Orthodontics, we use digital scans to plan for orthodontic work. We rely on the iTero digital dental scanner.
What Are Digital Dental Scans?
Digital dental scans snap three-dimensional images of your mouth and create a map of the mouth without requiring any goopy mess. The scanner automatically generates images by using hundreds of touchpoints in the mouth and calculating how far apart they are. The resulting image shows your entire mouth and makes it easy to model orthodontic devices.
The Benefits of Digital Orthodontic Dental Scans
The most significant benefit of using an orthodontic dental impression scanner is comfort. The old method of using molds could be messy and uncomfortable. The liquid had an unpleasant taste, and it was hard for patients to keep it all in their mouths. The new method is cleaner, more comfortable, and has less potential for errors. One false move with the old process and children had to start the impression all over again.
Other benefits of using dental scans include:
- Greater accuracy: The technology used with digital scans generates the most accurate images.
- Immediate accessibility: The orthodontist can look at dental scans right away instead of waiting for the impressions to harden.
- Less hassle: Kids stay comfortable, dry and happy while the digital scanning takes place. That wasn’t always the case with the old method.
What Is the iTero Scanner?
The iTero is a type of orthodontic scanner we employ at our office. It creates images quickly, generating more than 6,000 frames per second. While there are many dental scanners available, we appreciate the reliability and dependable images that we get with the iTero scanner. And it works directly with invisalign.
How Does the iTero Scanner Work?
The iTero scanner has a wand that we use to make the orthodontic digital impressions. The dentist or assistant uses the wand to scan your child’s entire mouth to generate a digital image. The wand is small enough that it rarely feels uncomfortable.
The iTero images show your child’s mouth, bite and teeth. As the dentist or assistant performs the scans, they can follow along with the image generation on the computer screen to make sure every part of the mouth is covered. Afterward, the orthodontist can zoom in on the pictures to identify areas that need work.
Contact Fox Kids Dentistry & Orthodontics for an Appointment
Contact us online to set up an appointment or give us a call at 503-223-5039. We can also discuss your many orthodontic options for your child.