This is not your father’s night guard…

Experience the precision yourself!

“Chair time for delivery of a bite splint is proving to be 50 – 75% less!”

While digital dentistry is not a new concept, it’s still thrilling when we see new digital technologies permeating techniques that we are still doing in an analog fashion. Days at Interchrome are exciting as we continually try to stay on the cutting edge of technology so that we can better serve the discerning dentist!

Today, we are seeing digital strides in removable dentistry, equally as game changing as it was for fixed dentistry with the innovation of CAD/CAM processes. The latest revolution we are seeing is falling in the realm of bite splint therapy.

For years we’ve heard cries from clinicians and staff regarding the challenges that bite splints present. An all too common occurrence was a night guard not seating or rocking, or an occlusion off. At the end of the day, the product from the lab must fit the cast that is presented, and must work functionally on a simulated jaw movement via articulator. Because the lab produced movement of the jaw is still a simulation, there will always be adjustments that must be made when the appliance reaches the patient. But now, we are ready to take additional variables out of the equation to help us produce the most accurate, precision fit bite splints to date.

Instead of the traditional forming, curing, and finishing workflow that we’ve known, we are virtually articulating, designing, and milling a precision fit appliance.  In an effort to accommodate dentists that have yet to adopt digital impression scanning, we can still produce an appliance that is far better than in the past by scanning a dimensionally accurate model poured from a conventional impression.

Due to the emergence of digital impression taking alone, we are already seeing fewer remakes and adjustments. It’s easy to forget that this is not a simple impression to take!  Because a bite splint fits over every tooth on the arch, it requires a near perfect impression without distortions or drags.

Watch the following video to see an example of the best impression technique for a bite splint:

Why is an Interchrome bite splint better?

Two things: Less chair time, and a better end product. At Interchrome, we never forget that everything we do must help our clients make their chair time more productive, and provide an always improving product to the patient. We are hearing reports from clinicians saying, “Chair time for delivery of a bite splint is proving to be 50 – 75% less!” That’s spectacular results from our viewpoint. We attribute the precise fit to our ability to uniquely use available undercuts of the arch, and dictate a proper path of insertion, more like that of a precision partial. That’s a winning combination when you combine a pre-milled occlusal surface that intimately follows occlusal contacts and pathways, and that also discludes posterior contacts in excursions.

Other fantastic attributes…

In addition to the precision fit and function, we are seeing results from test patients as preferring the milled bite splints 100% of the time because of the sleek buccal contouring, and thin profile we are able to create. In the past, splints would often be more bulky than a patient would like, or more visible than it otherwise could be. Advances in materials and our ability to mill them, like splints from a dense, clear, PMMA block, give us the dimensional accuracy that helps with such a great fitting appliance, as well as excess free monomer being a non issue. Also, fewer fractures and breakages are occurring because of the extremely even occlusal contact that scanning and milling allows us to establish.

The non destructive workflow of creating a digital bite splint is also a convenient feature for both lab and clinician. When the call comes in to the lab, “Mrs. Smith lost her night guard, when can we have another one?”, we can now revel in what this new technology allows us to produce. We now go back to the file of the scan, send the design to be milled, and the next day we can have a splint headed back to the office!

Digital dentistry is here to stay, and will eventually improve every facet of our workflow. As with anything there are growing pains with new technologies, but with bite splint technology there are nothing but bright days in our future! To schedule or discuss a bite splint case, call us at 757-271-5811, and we’d be glad to help you.