Prof. Dr. Çağrı Ural

Today, the concepts of digital dentistry and digital work flow have become a routine in our clinical practice. Treatment planning including impressions as well as production processes take place completely under the control of digital devices. With the introduction of every new technology, we think that our lives will be more practical and easier. This applies in both healthcare and also dentistry practice. But are there limits that we ignore as we are getting lost in this digital world? Does the digital world always free us from problems and provide the most optimum solution?

When we review the current literature and most recent scientific developments, we see that digital world that we’ve adapted very rapidly and facilitated our lives in many domains and maximized the quality in production steps is in the forefront. Accuracy and precision of the digital scanners we use at our clinics or in other words digital impression devices are always controversial. After this stage, production steps, materials used, parameters used during production, implant fixed prosthesis options in digital world, precision of libraries, ecosystems produced by third parties etc. are the stages that we have to tackle constantly. At these stage, clinicians should have the knowledge and know that none of these devices, materials or techniques do not have infinite capacity. Particularly in implant fixed prosthetic treatments, coordinators that manage the treatment, that is we as clinicians, should know the options and working principles in the digital world and should manage and guide our team members.

I had many opportunities to be involved in the back of the house with my title as R&D consultant in recent years in digital dentistry that is my personal and professional interest area. Although we have limits, we should always target continuous development in this area given that digital is the future of dentistry while the biggest source for such development is discussions we have with colleagues. In this context, with this presentation, I hope to discuss our limits from a clinician perspective in the digital world with my fellow colleagues.