Possibility and Future of Intraoral Scanner Application to Change the Method of Taking Impressions

Impression taking for treatment is indispensable in dental practice. Many types of impression materials have been researched and developed in the past, with the advantages of convenience, high precision, and accurate impression. In recent years, digital imaging devices have become smaller, and their image quality has improved with the development of digital technology. This technology has been applied for development of an intraoral scanner (IOS), which captures the state of the intraoral region in three dimensions. Therefore, optical impressions using IOSs have been attracting attention. The use of IOS is expected to reduce the risk of various errors and infections compared to the use of conventional techniques using alginate and silicone. Furthermore, not using impression materials has many advantages, such as eliminating the risk of aspiration, cost reduction by not using materials such as gypsum, convenience of data exchange due to the use of digital data, and ease of use with dental computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing systems. In contrast, the precision and accuracy of IOS are comparable to those of silicone impression material in the posterior segment, but they are inferior in the cross arch. Training for effective use and capital investment is required to use IOSs. Further research on IOSs is warranted as it is a developing technology.