iTero Element 5D Plus Imaging System
With a single scan, capture and show patients 3D digital impressions, intraoral photos, treatment simulation, and stunning visualization of their oral conditions
Giving patients the smile of their dreams is a passion for Dr. Michael Koczarski, who maintains a general and
cosmetic dentistry practice just outside Seattle, WA. Over the years, the clinician and educator has discovered that, for some patients, seeing is believing. This means that getting them to a "yes" requires a visual window into their oral conditions and treatment options.
Enter the iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system. Designed to simultaneously capture 3D digital impressions and intraoral images, the iTero Element 5D Plus also aids in supragingival caries detection using near-infrared imaging (NIRI) technology, a feature that Dr. Koczarski finds highly intriguing. "After scanning the patient, I’ll look at the NIRI image and confirm what I’m seeing on the radiograph," he said.
Show-and-Tell for Every Patient
While viewing 3D models alongside intraoral and NIRI images on a single screen is a fascinating new development for the team at Koczarski Family & Aesthetic Dentistry, it wasn’t what initially piqued Dr. Koczarski’s interest in acquiring the iTero Element 5D Plus.
“My goal in purchasing this imaging system was to start scanning new patients, recording tooth positions and wear patterns over time, and evaluating recession—in part as an educational tool to show patients what their teeth look like,” he shared.
For example, he uses iTero TimeLapse Technology to compare historical scans to current scans and visually show patients changes in tooth wear, tooth movement, and gingiva over time. And while his office has been launching 2 to 3 Invisalign cases a week—up from about a case a week before the pandemic—he looks forward to using the Invisalign Outcome Simulator to show hygiene patients what they might look like with a straighter smile, or to get a patient who is on the fence about clear aligner therapy to move forward.
The Grand Slam of Restorative Accuracy
After just a few short weeks of using the 5D Plus imaging system, Dr. Koczarski said he has been blown away by its restorative capabilities, which came as an unexpected surprise given it wasn’t his primary reason for investing in the system.“I would say we’re 20% faster doing crown-and-bridge work with the iTero system than we were with traditional impressions,” he shared, adding that he no longer spends as much time in the operatory because his assistants can handle much of the scanning and initial prep work. “I can pop in the room at my convenience and pull up the images without interrupting them, look at the preparation design or my finish line, and then decide if it’s good to go, or if I need to come back in and re-prep a little. So, I don’t find my team waiting on me between hygiene exams and other chairs I’m working on."
While perfect-fitting crowns right out of the box was not uncommon when using his previous-generation iTero scanner, the iTero Element 5D Plus has taken this occurrence to new heights.“
Four out of 5 times, the crown we get back from the lab is what I call a ‘grand slam home run on the first pitch,'" said Dr. Koczarski. "I just take it out of the box, take off the temp wrap, clean up, set it down, and it fits perfectly. It’s such a timesaver and stress reliever.”
It's also become much easier to tackle multiple preparations. For example, a veneer case used to call for packing and pulling 10 cords, while fighting to keep the soft tissue dry and blood-free. “Then, I’d speed through taking an impression before things started to set, hoping not to get any pulls, drags, voids, or distortions. Now, I can just scan a tooth at a time, and each tooth takes 10 seconds to scan," he shared. "So, I never thought about how much more efficient scanning becomes with the more units you’re doing.”
The 'Wow' Factor
Aside from its seemingly limitless restorative and visualization capabilities, the iTero Element 5D Plus has proved itself as a technology that gets patients talking—with one of Dr. Koczarski’s patients going so far as to call the imaging system's visualization “magic.
"We’ve used the intraoral camera aspect of the iTero Element 5D Plus during case presentations to show the patient exactly what we’re going to be fixing,” said Dr. Koc-zarski, adding that this creates more awareness around their dental issues and urges them to move forward with treatment.
“iTero is a vehicle that lets patients see the whole arch, and the images come up so quickly. There’s a big ‘wow’ factor to it, and to not have a traditional impression taken, especially a full-arch impression, patients think it's the coolest thing," he concluded.
