How to Master Interproximal Scanning

Fixing Interproximal Scans for Crowns and Bridges with Dandy Chairside

Interproximal Scans 

How to identify errors and improve interproximal scan quality -  for better end results. 

We want our crowns to drop in with little to no adjustments and function with the patient’s existing anatomy—kind of how all the parts of a key match up against the parts of a lock perfectly. Unfortunately, when the mesial or distal contacts adjacent to the restoration are uneven or jagged,  designing contacts can be tricky.

• Uneven surfaces resulting from bad scans force our designers to add b lk to crowns. This guarantees you won’t have an open contact - but it also guarantees your chair side adjustments. 

When scanning the prepped tooth and surrounding area you want to keep an eye on the adjacent contacts and how they are shaped in relation to your restoration. 

Good scans require the adjoining teeth surfaces to be smooth & dry so that our designers can design that perfect ‘drop-in’ crown. Poor scans result when adjoining teeth surfaces are: 

• Covered with blood, saliva and/or moisture. 
  • How to check for it: See if the adjacent surfaces have jagged/rough edges. This makes designing a smooth path of insertion difficult.
  • How to fix it: Apply cotton rolls, use suction and wipe down adjoining teeth prior to re-scanning.
• Missing surfaces or scan data.
  • How to check for it: See if the scan has little dents/divots or missing patches on the adjacent surfaces* These force our designers to guess where the contacts are.
  • How to fix it: Be slow and methodical on adjoining contacts* The more angles you can  give the wand to view the adjoining surfaces, the better*
    • Use the Stone View in Chairside to check the surfaces of your preps in a gray-scale format to ensure that the interproximal contacts are well captured for our designers to work off of!

Examples of Good Quality Interproximal Scans 

The surfaces and adjoining teeth surfaces are smooth & dry.

Examples of Poor Quality Interproximal Scans 

All photos below show highlighted examples of jagged adjacent surfaces.

The rougher a contact surface - the more difficult it is to match a crown to it that fits exactly.

Think of a lock and key - the more intricate the adjacent contact is the trickier it is to design a perfect fit.

Interproximal Scanning PDF