With today’s degree of digitization it is no wonder that dentistry has been massively influenced by the advent of digital technologies. Dentistry usually adopts all these new technologies early on taking only a few years after every new discovery for them to be introduced into our practices.
The digitalization of certain procedures is growing fast and the situation now is that virtually all aspects of dentistry make use of one type of digital technology or another. We have become familiar with digital data capture systems such as X-ray, CT and MRI and more recently we have seen exciting new developments in intra-oral cameras.
The latter will profoundly change the way we practice restorative dentistry as it provides us with digital data of the oral cavity that can then be processed by a digital dental laboratory. This will provide an even greater incentive to develop new design software that will allow us to manipulate all this data we are able to gather from our patients.
Another aspect of the digital age that has impacted on dentistry is the transition from traditional manufacturing routes to the use of CAD-CAM and more recently additive manufacturing. All the information coming from CBCT, digital photography, intraoral scanners and lab scanners have now the possibility to be combined and elaborated by dedicated software to help clinicians to formulate very accurate treatment planning. An overview on these new ways of working will be presented from virtual planning and patient’s communications to guided surgery and custom made bone reconstructions.