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As a prosthodontist practicing at Dental Image Clinic in Bangkok, I’ve always been passionate about integrating new technologies into my daily work， especially digital dentistry. My focus is on complex restorative cases, I enjoy to help my patients regain their smiles and chewing ability.
All-on-4 is an effective treatment for edentulous patients, offering full-arch rehabilitation. However, achieving a precise fit requires skill, especially with tilted implant placement and accurate impressions. Passive fit is key to long-term success, making impression accuracy essential. Splinted impression copings are recommended for precision, allowing for a better-fitting framework.
The Hidden Cost of Using Conventional Impressions for All-on-X
Despite its accuracy, the splinted impression coping technique often comes with hidden challenges. Creating an impression jig adds significant chair time, whether fabricated in-office or outsourced to a lab. Most clinicians prefer sending impressions to the lab, but this introduces transportation risks—delays, mishandling, or even damage—that can force a repeat of one of the most complex procedures, frustrating both dentist and patient.
Even when impressions arrive safely, environmental factors can threaten precision. In humid climates like Bangkok, controlling stone expansion during model pouring is difficult, and minor variations can compromise accuracy. Each additional step—verifying models, sending bite registrations, and shipping materials back and forth between the clinic and lab—adds time and increases the risk of errors.
In short, while conventional impressions with splinted copings can achieve good accuracy, the hidden costs include extra chair time, transportation risks, environmental influences, and multiple opportunities for error—making it difficult to ensure predictable, efficient outcomes for All-on-X cases.
Embracing a Digital Alternative with IPG
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital dentistry, precision and efficiency are paramount. When it comes to All-on-X cases, the IPG (Intraoral photogrammetry)by Shining 3D offers a superior alternative to conventional impression techniques, addressing several key limitations and offering significant advantages for both clinicians and patients.
The IPG scan body is meticulously engineered to optimize accuracy and ease of use in All-on-X cases:
Extra-Size Scanning Tip: Reduces discrepancies and improves scan data acquisition.
Multi-Unit Abutment Specific: Designed for seamless integration with multi-unit abutments. Ensure proper tightening to specification.
Extended Horizontal Arm: Compensates for scanning distance between implants, ensuring precise positional data. The arms should nearly touch providing a reference point, helping connect one scanbody to another to obtain the accurate implant position, unaffected by the movement of soft tissue. One of the most important features of the IPG system is that it is pre-calibrated. This allows the software to correct for any minor discrepancies in the scan length, improving overall accuracy and reliability. This calibration ensures consistent and predictable outcomes, especially important in full-arch restorations.
Precision and Efficiency, Redefined
Concerns about the accuracy of intraoral scanners (iOS) for full-arch scans are valid. However, the IPG system is specifically designed to mitigate these concerns through:
Strategic Scan Body Placement: The design allows accurate capture of implant positions despite potential distortions in soft tissue.
Pre-Calibration: The system takes into account any potential optical distortion from the iOS through its factory calibration data, ensuring consistent and reliable results.Since its introduction, multiple studies have confirmed that the accuracy of the IPG system fully meets the passive fit requirements for full-arch implant restorations, demonstrating excellent precision and reproducibility. I have extensively applied this technology in multiple All-on-X cases with consistently successful outcomes, reinforcing its proven reliability in daily clinical practice.
Discover the Power of IPG
The IPG by Shining marks a new milestone in All-on-X impression techniques. By eliminating the need for conventional impression jigs, minimizing polymerization shrinkage, and integrating cutting-edge design innovations, the IPG ensures exceptional accuracy, efficiency, and predictability.
Embrace the future of digital dentistry — and unlock the full potential of your All-on-X restorations with the IPG system.