Invisalign Itero in London: shaping the digital age
Technology is a wonder. Despite the many dystopian stories that were created in the 20th century, so far, on balance, we’re a lot better off for it. The computer age has made the basics of life easier, quicker and more efficient. We’ve mechanised housework, made it possible to work from home, and shop from the sofa.
The dental world has been touched by this technological revolution as much as any other aspect of life. At Graham Tinkler in London, one way we’ve embraced it through the use of digital impressions.
Taking impressions of teeth has always been a messy and imprecise business, and not a great experience for you as a patient. It meant filling an impression tray with putty, placing it over your teeth and holding it there for 30-60 seconds. Yuk. Some patients found the taste and smell unpleasant and it even created a gag reflex in some.
Not to mention that the moulds of the teeth created from these impressions weren’t always entirely accurate. This meant that the dentures, crowns and braces made from them didn’t always fit in perfectly with existing teeth and became loose or rubbed the gums over time.
Invisalign Itero in London has changed all that. The Itero is an intra-oral digital scanner – this means that it takes digital photographs of your teeth and gums and builds up an incredibly accurate 3D image of your mouth.
The Invisalign Itero in London uses a handheld scanner to take the impressions of your teeth – no more putty with a weird taste or smell. You simple open wide as you would with any dental exam.
The Itero was designed to help create Invisalign aligners, clear braces that fit over the teeth and gums, as the information it gathers means that we can create a computer simulation that will show you how your teeth will change over the course of treatment. This is another great benefit of this technology – you can see the end result before you start, meaning you can make an informed choice about treatment.
And it also means that the custom-made aligners are made with pinpoint accuracy, so fit the unique profile of your mouth.