Dr Timmerman doesn’t make bold statements often, so when he does, there is a reason.
There are two factors to consider:
- Quality of final restoration
- Convenience for the patient
The messy goop for impressions is never perfect. Moisture from the mouth affects the setting of the goop, the goop runs down your throat making you gag and perhaps remove the material too soon, the material distorts (and the list goes on).
With this distorted impression, plaster is poured inside to make a replica of the teeth. The plaster expands or shrinks during the setting, hopefully in the opposite direction of the messy goop (goop expanded? lets hope the plaster shrinks, but not TOO much…). With this, the lab technician creates the restoration.
iTero by Cadent eliminates these issues. “No goop” means “no gag”. Moisture is not an issue with a picture. The image resolution is accurate to an error of 10 microns. That’s MICRONS. Now when the lab technician creates their artwork, things just plain FIT.
Convenience? The information is sent electronically to the lab while the patient is still IN THE CHAIR. Normally after the patient has their temporary crown created, they are dismissed and the impressions are disinfected and shipped to the lab. This is done by a courier to a local lab or delivery service (UPS or FedEx, etc) to an out of state lab (or China. You should ask where…). This takes time.
iTero restorations theoretically could be created on the same day as the preparation appointment (this would depend on how busy the lab is, pre arranged priority service, etc). The iTero restoration COULD be done in a matter of days and not weeks.
Is it the same day? No. But would you prefer one appointment for 2-2.5 hours, or 2 appointments, the first only 30 minutes long and the second 15-20 minutes?
What kind of service and treatment do YOU want? Most would prefer what professionals would request. Ask a dentist (that has done their homework) which method would they seek for themselves. A strong majority would prefer iTero (nothing is ever 100%, especially in dentistry).
Lance Timmerman
