Digital dentistry program seeks to improve patient experience
The digital dentistry program at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry may help students incorporate digital strategies in dentistry, enhance patient comfort and improve treatment outcomes.
Advancements in digital technology can speed up the time it may take to scan a patient’s oral structures. Digital dental impressions involve the use of an intraoral camera that is capable of creating digital scans. Software can then process the images to develop a 3D model of the patient’s oral structures that dentists can use to design patient-specific crowns, bridges and dentures. Introducing digital impressions into practice can therefore streamline the dental workflow and potentially provide a more positive patient experience. The technique eliminates the need for certain dental materials that may decrease patient comfort and reduces both patient chair time and the number of necessary dental visits.
Students partaking in the program learn how to prepare, scan, design and fabricate restorations with digital technology. By educating students on how to use novel digital dentistry tools through one-on-one training and access to digital dental equipment, leaders of the digital dentistry program hope to improve the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care.
“Digital dentistry is revolutionizing the dental profession by integrating advanced technologies that benefit both patients and providers,” concluded Awab Abdulmajeed, D.D.S., assistant professor and director of the digital dentistry clinic at the VCU School of Dentistry.
Read more: VCU Health
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