The pandemic caused an explosion of digital solutions, from online shopping to remote work and virtual learning. The dental industry is no exception, seeing a jump in the submission of digital impressions since the pandemic.

We’re definitely seeing this increase in digital impressions at D&S, which is great news since digital impressions result in more accurate restorations and fewer remakes. They can also eliminate delivery or shipping days.  Currently, digital impression cases represent about 20-25% of total cases in the lab.

Dental practices can save money when submitting digital impressions to D&S Dental with our Scanner Savings Program. Doctors can:

• Get $10 off with every digital impression case submitted*
• Get $50 lab credit if you submit 20 or more digital cases in one month
• Get $100 lab credit if you submit 40 or more digital cases in one month

*only valid on D&S lab-printed models and cases involving more than model work only.

Some labs are purchasing intraoral scanners for doctors right now. However, we caution offices to be careful when reviewing these “deals.” The doctor is limited to the scanner model the lab is offering (often a basic model) and is sometimes tied to volume quotas. There may be price increases for other lab products or services to help offset the cost of the scanners, too.

With our Scanner Savings program, doctors retain the freedom to choose the intraoral scanner model they prefer. And we reward doctors for every digital impression case sent – the more doctors submit, the more money they get back.

Savings Totals

Last year, almost one dozen doctors saved over $2,000 through the program with another 30 saving more than $1,000 for the year and 30 more saving between $500 and $1,000. We even had a few doctors hit the $5,000 savings mark. The savings help offset any annual scanner maintenance or subscription fees.

Model Recommendations

If you haven’t yet purchased an intraoral scanner and want the lab’s thoughts, feel free to call us as we’re happy to share our observations.

“We can accept scans from pretty much any intraoral scanner,” says Peter Derauf, one of the owners of D&S Dental Laboratory who oversees CAD/CAM production. “Right now, the top three  scanners that we receive files from are Sirona (CEREC), iTero and 3Shape Trios. We also get scans from Medit, Carestream and Planmeca. Any of the latest scanners will work. It really comes down to what you are going to do with it and how much support you need.”

To connect your scanner and begin sending impressions to D&S, go to dnsdental.com and select Send Case > Send Digital Impression.

Growing Numbers

D&S has seen steady growth in digital impressions since it began tracking it in 2019.  The only exception was a dip in submissions during the pandemic lock down. In the past three years, we’ve seen the number of doctors submitting digital impressions for crown and bridge cases triple and the number of doctors sending digital impressions for removable cases the past two years has doubled.