· 6 min
If you have ever had a silicone impression taken, you remember it: the tray full of material, the feeling that your air is running out, the minutes ticking by until it set. The intraoral scanner replaces all of that with a small camera that travels over your teeth and builds a 3D model on screen while you watch. At AS Odontología Digital it is the gateway to digital dentistry: almost everything we plan starts from that scan. Here we explain, from your side of the chair, what it is, how it feels, what we use the model for and what it cannot do.
It is a handheld device, roughly the size of a large electric toothbrush, that captures thousands of images per second of the inside of the mouth and integrates them in real time into a three-dimensional model of your teeth and gums. The technology combines structured light or laser with reconstruction algorithms: the software turns the images into a point cloud and then into a polygonal model of the arches with accuracy to tenths of a millimeter.
That level of precision matters because the digital model is the starting point for any restoration designed with CAD/CAM. A crown, a bridge, a veneer or an inlay is designed and milled directly on that model, without the intermediate plaster step and without the distortions that process could introduce.
In the clinic we use the iTero 5D. If you want the technical detail of the equipment, we describe it on our technology page. Here we stay with what changes for you.
The difference shows from the first minute. There is no tray and no pasty material, and you do not have to hold still while something sets. The scanner tip is small and rests lightly on the teeth; the sensation is close to having a camera passed through your mouth, nothing more.
For people with a sensitive gag reflex, this is what changes most. Impression material builds up on the palate and toward the throat, and that is exactly where the reflex is triggered. The scanner fills nothing: it travels over the surfaces and comes out. If at any point you need to swallow or breathe through your mouth, we pause, and the software picks up exactly where it left off.
As for time, a full arch is scanned in a few minutes and the bite registration takes even less. The result is also reviewed on screen right away: if an area came out incomplete, we go over it on the spot, without repeating the whole procedure the way we had to when an impression came out with bubbles or tore.
One scan can end up in four different places.
Clear aligners. For Invisalign, the digital model is sent directly to Align Technology for ClinCheck planning, which at the clinic is led by Dr. Camila Sampaio. There we see the full sequence of tooth movements and the projected result before a single aligner is made. How that plan is built and reviewed is explained in ClinCheck: planning your Invisalign treatment.
Crowns and veneers. The restoration is designed on the digital model and milled in the clinic with CAD/CAM. That is what makes it possible, in many cases, to prepare and cement a crown in a single visit. The full process is in dental crowns: when they are indicated and how they are made.
Implants. Here the scanner works as a pair with the Cone Beam CT. The CBCT shows bone; the scanner shows teeth and gums with surface precision. We merge both to design the surgical guide, a workflow led by Dr. Pablo Atria and described in guided implant surgery. In the restorative phase, the scanner also takes the digital impression of the osseointegrated implant, with a scan body instead of impression copings and a conventional impression.
Smile design. On the model we build the virtual wax-up, simulate veneers or crowns, and show you the simulation in the same appointment, so you take part in the decisions about your own smile.
Beyond geometry, the iTero 5D captures images with near-infrared light. That light passes through enamel in a way that lets us see inside the tooth and distinguish areas where the structure changes, which helps detect interproximal caries (the ones that form between teeth, where the eye cannot reach) at early stages and without ionizing radiation.
In practice, this means the same scan we take to plan your treatment carries additional diagnostic information, and that we can follow a suspicious area from one check-up to the next. It also captures color intraoral photographs, so you can see on screen exactly what we see when we explain something to you.
It is worth saying plainly: the scanner sees surfaces and, with the infrared, some of the interior of the enamel. It does not see bone, roots, or what lies beneath an old restoration. For that, X-rays remain necessary and, when implants are planned or something more complex is assessed, so does the Cone Beam CT.
Nor does it decide for us. The infrared points to suspicious areas; the diagnosis is made with the clinical examination, the X-ray and your history. If someone tells you that with a scan you will never need X-rays again, be skeptical. What changes is that we arrive at that X-ray with a more precise question.
One practical note: the scan does not change the clinical work that comes afterwards. A well-fitting crown or a well-placed implant depends on the judgment and the hands of whoever does it; the scanner gives them better information.
If it is your first time at the clinic, the scan is part of the initial examination. You sit down, the scanner tip is covered with a disposable sleeve, and within a few minutes both your arches appear on the screen in front of you. Then we record how you bite, and with that the model is complete.
What comes next is the part our patients appreciate most: reviewing the model together. We can rotate it, zoom in on one tooth, show you an area of wear or a gum that has receded, and explain what we are talking about while you look at it. A treatment plan is much easier to understand when you are looking at it in 3D than when it is described in words.
You need no special preparation. If you wear a removable appliance, bring it. If your gag reflex is strong, tell us beforehand: we can scan in short segments with pauses.
Every scan is archived. That means at your next check-up we can overlay the new model on the previous one and see what changed: whether wear from bruxism advanced, whether a gum receded or whether a tooth moved after orthodontics. These are changes of tenths of a millimeter that the eye does not catch, and that show clearly in a digital comparison.
For us this is one of the quietest advantages of the scanner. A silicone impression was used and discarded; the digital model accumulates and becomes your history. Over the years, that history says more than any single scan.
If you want to understand how this scan connects with the rest of the clinic's digital workflow, from design to fabrication, we explain it in what digital dentistry is. And if you are in Vitacura or nearby, the first step is to book an evaluation: the scan is part of it.
If this article left you with questions, explore the related services or book an evaluation at AS Odontología Digital in Vitacura.
No. The scanner is a small handheld wand that captures images with light. It rests lightly on the teeth, applies no pressure, puts no material in the mouth and can be paused at any moment if you need to swallow or breathe.
A full-arch scan typically takes between 2 and 4 minutes. Both arches and the bite registration are completed in under 10 minutes, and the result is reviewed on screen right away.
No. The scanner records surfaces and, with the iTero 5D's near-infrared imaging, some of the interior of the enamel. It does not see bone, roots or what lies beneath old restorations. X-rays remain necessary for that, and for implants or complex cases, so does the Cone Beam CT.
At AS Odontología Digital it is used for Invisalign planning (ClinCheck), the design and milling of crowns and veneers with CAD/CAM, implant planning together with the CBCT and digital impressions over implants, smile design and the monitoring of changes over time.
Yes. Digital scans achieve accuracy to tenths of a millimeter and eliminate distortions from material shrinkage, tray movement or improper setting that can occur with silicone or alginate. Any incomplete area is also rescanned on the spot without repeating the whole procedure.
Yes, and for people who have it this is usually the biggest difference. The scanner does not fill the palate or the throat with material; it only travels over the surfaces. If your reflex is strong, tell us beforehand and we scan in short segments with pauses.
It is an additional image the iTero 5D captures with near-infrared light, without ionizing radiation. It shows changes inside the enamel and helps detect caries between teeth at early stages. It guides the diagnosis; confirmation is still clinical and radiographic.
