ANSWERS

How to take a good intraoral scan

A good intraoral scan starts with a dry, retracted field and a clean scanner tip. Scan in a consistent path: occlusal, lingual, buccal, then opposing arch and bite. Capture margins with the tissue retracted, not blown back by air. Review the model on-screen before sending.

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Why it works this way

Prep the field before you prep the scanner

The single biggest cause of scan-data remakes is moisture on the prep margin. Before the scanner ever enters the mouth, the field needs to be isolated, dried, and the sulcus retracted enough to expose 0.5 mm of unprepped tooth structure below the margin. Cord packing, Expasyl, or a well-placed isolation system all work. What does not work is hoping the scanner's confocal algorithm will reconstruct what the air-water syringe blew into the sulcus.

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Do I need to powder the teeth before scanning?

Not with current-generation scanners. 3Shape TRIOS, iTero Element, Medit i700, and Primescan all use powder-free confocal or active wavefront sampling. Powder is only needed on highly reflective surfaces like polished gold or wet zirconia provisionals, and even then a light dusting on the reflective surface only. Powdering an entire arch on a modern scanner adds capture time and introduces stitching errors as the powder shifts during the scan path.

How do I scan a full-arch implant case for All-on-X?

Full-arch implant scans need scan bodies seated and torqued to manufacturer spec, then a scan path that captures each scan body plus 2-3 mm of surrounding tissue. Most labs, including Dani Dental, also request a photogrammetry verification or a verification jig for cases over four implants. The trueness drop on pure intraoral scans beyond four implants is well-documented; a verification step protects the prosthetic fit and saves a remake on a five-figure case.

What scanner does Dani Dental accept files from?

Dani Dental accepts open STL and PLY files from every major intraoral scanner: 3Shape TRIOS, iTero Element series, Medit i500 and i700, Planmeca Emerald, Carestream CS 3600 and 3700, Primescan, and Aoralscan. Files upload through the Dani Dental case portal or via direct integration with 3Shape Communicate and iTero MyAligntech. Turnaround on digital cases starts the moment the scan and Rx land in the portal, not when the courier arrives the next morning.

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This answer is one piece of a larger workflow. The pillar page covers materials, turnaround, and how we build the case to your specification.

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