No More Messy Impressions! Say Hello To iTero Our Digital Scanner
As you may have heard – our Guildford surgery has a brand new piece of equipment and we’re pretty excited about it (for good reason). We’d like to introduce you to our iTero scanner, a powerful, state of the art computer with a ‘wand’ that allows us to take real-time images of your teeth. We’re now offering a complimentary scan during all of our FREE smile assessments so you can see exactly how treatment is going to allow you to achieve the smile of your dreams! The best news is that now we have our scanner, we can say bye bye to horrible impressions. No more gagging or torturous clock watching waiting for the impressions to set. Your scan will be taken by Rosani (dental nurse), Lisa (orthodontic therapist) or Angela (orthodontic therapist).
So how does it all work?
During your smile assessment, the dental nurse seeing you, will sit you down, listen to your concerns, answer your questions and prepare you for your scan. The first part of the preparation involves you putting on some pretty attractive orange glasses! Your head will then be lowered so the practitioner can see clearly into your mouth. You’ll also be told that if you feel uncomfortable at any time, to raise your hand and we’ll stop the scan.
The next step is for the dental nurse to use the iTero ‘wand’ to scan your teeth one arch at a time, starting with the bottom, building a real life picture of your teeth on the screen. This is done by the dental nurse slowly moving the wand around your teeth while it makes a small clicking noise. This noise is the wand taking photographs of your teeth and sending them to the screen. Once all of the bottom teeth have been scanned, the dental nurse will remove the wand from your mouth and take a look at the picture of your teeth on the screen. At this point, you may notice little red marks on the image of your teeth, which indicate to the dental nurse that these specific areas need to be re-photographed. Once any red spots have had their picture taken again, the dental nurse will move onto your upper arch (top row of teeth) and then scan your bite (scan around the teeth while you’re biting your teeth together). This entire process takes approximately 15 mins.
Once all of your teeth have been scanned, the dental nurse will tidy up the image of your teeth on the screen and tell the computer that the scanning is complete. You are then shown a full-colour image of your teeth, precisely how they look at this moment in time. Your scans are then sent to your orthodontist, so they can recommend the most effective treatment for you should you want to continue with your journey to a perfect smile. However, it’s the next step that is the most exciting of them all!
At the press of a button, the iTero scanner will show you (with incredible precision) what YOUR teeth are going to look like when your treatment has finished. It really is a magical moment, where you can consider your financial investment and see exactly how we can transform your smile.
What happens next?
If you’re happy with proceeding to treatment, we’ll book you in to see one of our specialist orthodontists, who will be able to talk you through the perfect treatment plan. The orthodontist will have received a copy of your scans from your first appointment which means they are fully prepared to discuss exactly how to correct your concerns with your teeth.
If the orthodontist suggests your smile can be transformed with Invisalign treatment (find out more about Invisalign here), and you’re happy to proceed with treatment, your scans can be sent directly to Invisalign UK where they will build your aligners with incredible precision.
How can the scanner help if I have already started treatment?
What precious tool are you going to be using to keep your smile perfect when your treatment has ended? A retainer of course! We will fit most patients with a bonded retainer to ensure that your teeth don’t move back to their original positioning, but we also recommend using other styles of retainers every single night. All we would need to do is scan your teeth as above once your treatment comes to an end and send you results of to the supplier who will provide you with a perfectly fitting retainer.
If you’re receiving Invisalign treatment, we can also scan and compare your teeth at each stage to ensure they’re on track and match predictions.
