3Shape TRIOS — why we waited, and why we finally jumped

For over a century, we as dentists have used various materials to take molds (impressions) of the hard and soft tissue in the oral cavity. Many patients had no choice but to put up with it; others suffered through gagging or left with extra dental fluff in their mouth.

Advances in dental technology came out with other ways of doing these impressions digitally. One of the first was Sirona CEREC. Some brave dentists immediately jumped on board, thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. These advanced machines were used to create dental restorations such as crowns without the use of that dental "GOOP" abhorred by so many patients.

I held back during that time, because I did not want to be the first to experiment with this technology without seeing a reliable track record. Not long after, a major flaw was discovered: these machines were not as accurate as the dental "GOOP" or standard PVS impression material, causing many patients to return to those dental offices with inadequate dental restorations such as leaky margins or recurrent decay.

Years passed and the technology gradually improved to the point where certain companies were able to dramatically improve the accuracy. The American Dental Association recently published an unbiased study comparing the six main intra-oral scanners on the market. The results made it clear: CEREC's accuracy was the worst of the six — even worse than the best dental "GOOP" PVS impression, which has an accuracy of 10–20 µm (microns). One scanner stood out: 3Shape TRIOS.

Not wanting to base my decision on just one study, I dug deeper, and study after study the 3Shape always came out on top. We purchased the 3Shape TRIOS Cart in August of 2017. Many of our patients have been ecstatic. With the most accurate digital scanner in the world, we use it for most of our dental and medical procedures today.

There are still times when we have to go back to the standard dental "GOOP" because of difficulty accessing an area or distortions due to debris and bodily fluids. But for the vast majority of cases, scanning is the answer — and it took the right technology to get there.