iTero Digital Scanner — Crossroads Dental Arts, Owings Mills, MD

Why patients in Owings Mills love iTero

What iTero is used for

iTero scanning is versatile. At our Owings Mills office we use it for:

• Crowns and bridges — better-fitting restorations with fewer remakes.
• Implants — precise planning and restorations that match the scan.
• Night guards and mouthguards — custom-fit and comfortable.
• Invisalign® — faster, more accurate aligner fabrication and treatment previews.

(If you want to see the scan right away, we can show it to you on the chairside monitor — people love watching the 3D model rotate.)

The scanning process — simple and patient-friendly

Here’s what typically happens during an iTero scan at Crossroads Dental Arts:

1. We briefly review your case and what we need to capture.
2. A team member gently moves the iTero wand around your teeth — you can breathe normally, talk if needed, or ask questions while we scan.
3. The scanner creates a 3D model in real-time. If we need any touch-ups, we do them right away — no doing the whole thing over.
4. We send the digital file to the lab (or to Invisalign) immediately — speeding up production.

Most scans take just a few minutes. For full-arch scans it might be a bit longer, but still way quicker than messy impressions.

iTero vs Traditional Impressions

Short version: digital wins for comfort and repeatability. But here’s the full scoop.

• Traditional impressions use trays and material that hardens around your teeth — sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes inaccurate if the patient moves or saliva interferes.
• iTero digital scans capture detailed imagery without paste. If we need to rescan a small area, we just do that — instead of repeating the whole impression.

That said, both methods are still used in dentistry; dentists choose the best approach for each case. At Crossroads Dental Arts, iTero is our go-to whenever digital accuracy helps the outcome.

iTero and Invisalign — a great pair

For Invisalign patients, iTero streamlines the entire process: faster previews of your treatment, quicker delivery of aligners, and more accurate staging. Many of our Invisalign patients comment that the fitting and overall experience felt smoother thanks to the digital scan.

Is iTero right for me?

Most patients are great candidates for a digital scan. You might especially benefit if you:

• Gag easily with traditional impressions
• Want faster turnaround for crowns, bridges, or Invisalign
• Prefer fewer appointment adjustments and remakes

If you have questions about implants, complex restorations, or other concerns, we’ll walk through the options and explain whether a digital scan will help your specific case.

Real patient note (not a scripted line)

Some folks worry that a “digital” process is cold or impersonal. Not true — we still care about how you feel. The scanner is just a tool that helps us do better work, faster. And yes, we still make terrible dentist jokes in the operatory. Probably too many.