How are Invisalign Impressions taken?

Question

What should be expected from an Invisalign impression appointment? Will the dentist know if a good impression was made during the visit, or not until they are processed?

Lance Timmerman, DMD, MAGD · Answer

ITero is a digital scanner that basically takes 3D pictures of the teeth, or traditional goopy impression material for impressions.  Determining if they were good or not at that time depends on the the skill of the dentist, but MOST dentists should be able to tell right then.

	However, a good impression does NOT guarantee that the case is good for Invisalign.  That is often determined with the special computer software, the ClinCheck.  Some cases are better served with traditional brackets and wires.

Shervin Abbaszadeh, DDS · Answer

Up until very recently, there was only one way to take the necessary impressions for Invisalign, which was to use a material called PVS (polyvinylesiloxane).  This material captures great deal of the teeth and is stable over time (remember - your impressions have to be couriered to California).   This impression material needs to stay in the mouth anywhere from 2-4 minutes.  It will have to be repeated twice, once for the upper and once for the lower teeth. 

	Orthodontists who typically have a good amount of experience will be able to tell if the impression is satisfactory or if a new one needs to be taken. 

	An alternate method to taking the impressions which has recently been introduced, is the use of a 3D intra-oral scanner using the iTero scanner (which is now owned by Invisalign).  This scanner captures the contour of all the teeth.   The scanning usually takes about 10-15 minutes.

Ron D. Wilson, DMD · Answer

Impressions must always be taken using PVS impression material which stands for polyvinylsiloxane.  This is an accurate impression material that allows us to exactly duplicate the tooth structure of each individual patient.  Impression material must sit in the mouth for about four to five minutes for each arch and then we have an accurate representation of the patient&rsquo;s dental anatomy.
	There is a new technology that has been currently developed today to where we can actually take a digital scan of the patient&rsquo;s occlusion, and from here we are able to construct the Invisalign aligners for the patient.  Currently, these digital scanners require about 10 minutes of scanning the teeth to be able to have an accurate representation.

Dan Hagi, DDS · Answer

Invisalign impressions are taken with very accurate impression material.  These materials reproduce minute details of teeth.  Your dentist will be able to recognize deficiencies in the impression.  However, sometimes there are distortions that can't be picked up by the naked eye and may be found after processing.

	As an interesting aside, Invisalign is introducing digital scanning to make the process even faster.  Now impression material is not needed, rather the teeth are scanned into a computer and an Invisalign model of the teeth is built in real time, this alleviates the concern over distortions.  This method will be even more accurate than the current impression materials.  The scanner is called ITero and will be introduced in the fall of 2011.

	Cheers,

Leonard Tau, DMD · Answer

At your invisalign impression visit, I am going to assume that you already had your xrays and examination, they will take a mold of your top teeth and bottom teeth as well as photos of your mouth.  The dentist or dental assistant will know right away if the impression were ok.

How are Invisalign Impressions taken?

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How are Invisalign Impressions taken?

Answers (7)

Answer: Invisalign impressions

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Everything you need to know about Invisalign

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