Digital Dentistry

The ambitions of the pioneers in the late 1980s eventually led to a form of implementation, which they too could not have dreamed of. Digital systems have penetrated our personal and professional life. In dentistry, an essential digital dataset of patient records, X-rays, photographs and intraoral scans, the platform represents revolutionary clinical activities that enrich patient-dentist and interprofessional interactions, transform education, and improve practice management. Digitization has led to changes on many fronts and yielded new techniques, systems and interactions that have improved dentistry. Innovation has created opportunities for future research by materials scientists. More restorative options are available for better durability and aesthetics. New approaches are to bring more efficiency and accuracy, using the interests, capacities and skills of those involved. New university curricula enable the training of students towards a new way of learning. Digital dentistry was initially seen as a threat to dental technicians, but this has turned out to be wrong, so much so that no one doubts the positive contribution that the digitization of dentistry has made so far. The question of whether 30 years of digitization has added value for dentistry is interesting, although it has permanently changed our way of working.

About the Author:
Jef M. van der Zel, PhD, MSc started his research in dentistry in 1977 in the areas of metal-ceramics, press- and sinterceramics, digital dentistry and dental CAD/CAM. He held an endowed chair at the Academic Centre for Dentistry (ACTA) of the University van Amsterdam from 2004-2012. Research directed towards clinically validating scan-, design- and production methods of dental prosthetics. He is one of the pioneers of restorative computerized dentistry and has since 1987 been working on the development of CAD/CAM dental systems. He is the founder of the Dental CAD/CAM special interest group of the International Association of Dental Research and chaired the ISO/TC106 Workgroup on Digital Dentistry that resulted in ISO 12836:2015(en) Dentistry - Digitizing devices for CAD/CAM systems for indirect dental restorations - Test methods for assessing accuracy. Jef is knight in the order of the Dutch Lion. He is involved in innovative developments in ceramics and digital dentistry worldwide as international consultant. Publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jef_Van_der_Zel