Why you should start creating digital patient avatars
In the fast-changing world of dentistry, digital technology is making a huge impact, and one exciting development is the use of digital patient avatars. Patient avatars are changing how dentists plan and deliver treatments, bringing a new level of accuracy and personalization into dental care.
Traditional dental treatment planning has its challenges, such as the limitations of physical impressions, the difficulty of explaining complex procedures to patients, or unexpected problems during the procedures. These issues can lead to misunderstandings, increased patient anxiety and less successful treatment results.
Digital patient avatars solve these problems by providing a clear, accurate, and comprehensive model of the patient. The digital twin not only replaces traditional analog records with highly precise 2D, 3D and 4D measurements, but it also allows dentists to assess, judge and treatment plan any patient in a fully digital way.
In this article, we'll explore the key benefits of digital patient avatars, such as improved communication, reduced errors, and personalized care, and walk you through the steps to create digital avatars for your patients yourself.
What is a digital patient avatar?
But let’s start with the basics: What is a digital patient avatar? A patient avatar is a complete virtual representation of your patient's dental and facial features, like a digital twin. This digital twin is assembled from detailed patient data, including intraoral scans, photos and videos, jaw motion tracking, CBCT scans and designs in 2D, 3D and 4D formats.
Dentists can simulate, plan and visualize different treatment scenarios on the avatar in a fully digital way before performing the actual procedures on the real patients. This approach allows dentists and technicians to achieve a level of prognostic detail and predictability that has never been possible before.
What are the benefits of patient avatars?
Creating patient avatars has many benefits for the dentist, the dental technician, and, most importantly, the patient.
The power of a virtual treatment room
The digital avatar acts as the heart of a virtual treatment room, where you can seamlessly integrate essential data such as 3D scans, jaw motion tracking, and more. This provides a comprehensive overview of planning and collaboration.
Tailored care with personalized treatment plans
Digital avatars lay the groundwork for a detailed and comprehensive treatment planning approach. By considering every aspect of the patient's condition, they enable a highly personalized treatment plan tailored to each patient's unique needs, preferences, and anatomy.
Improved patient communication and understanding
Working with digital avatars greatly improves communication with patients, ensuring they fully understand their treatment plans and options and feel confident in their decisions.
Proactive problem detection with virtual test-drives
Avatars allow the dental team to "test-drive" different treatment options in a virtual setting before performing any procedures. This proactive approach helps to identify and resolve potential hurdles and problems during the treatment planning stage, rather than during the actual procedure, reducing the risk of complications.
Precise planning for a reduced margin of error
Avatars enable precise planning, minimize errors in treatment and enhance overall accuracy. They ensure that no details are forgotten or overlooked during the treatment process.
Team alignment and informed decision-making
With the help of avatars, the dental team can easily follow the patient's journey throughout the entire therapy and work together asynchronously. By superimposing various data files, they can ensure that each step of the treatment is fully aligned with the initial plan, leading to consistent and exceptional results.
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How to create a digital patient avatar
Now that you know what a digital patient avatar is and why it’s beneficial, let’s dive into how to create one. Creating a digital patient avatar isn’t just about using one piece of technology; it’s about combining several advanced tools. Each step in the process is important for building an accurate and personalized digital twin that will greatly improve how you plan and perform dental treatments.
Intraoral scan
An intraoral scan is the core foundation of the patient's avatar. Using this technology, you can create a highly detailed digital impression of the patient’s mouth, capturing 3D images of the teeth, bite, and soft tissues.
This digital impression not only ensures precise restorations but also provides a comfortable and efficient experience for the patient, eliminating the need for traditional, cumbersome impression materials.
Jaw motion tracking
Adding jaw motion data takes the digital avatar to the next level by recording the patient’s real-time jaw movements. This step provides critical insights into a patient’s dynamic movements, current bite, and potential temporomandibular disorder (TMD) issues.
By understanding how the patient’s jaw functions in real-time, you can create a treatment plan that is highly customized to their specific functional needs.
Photo analysis
A detailed photo analysis is essential for formulating an esthetic AND functional treatment plan. High-quality photographs show the proportion, individual features, and anatomical details of your patient's face.
But these photos don’t just show you you a clear picture of the patient´s current situation, they can also be combined with an AI-powered smile-design software photos also help to visualize possible treatment outcomes.
Video analysis
With an additional video analysis, you can observe the dynamic aspects of a patient’s smile and assess more detailed facial expressions in a very natural way.
This analysis enriches your view on how a treatment may affect your patient's smile and facial expressions.
CBCT scan & face scan
The combination of a CBCT scan with a separate face scan provides a 360-degree view of your patient's anatomy, focusing on bone and tooth structures AND facial contours.
This information allows you to treatment plan procedures with a comprehensive understanding of the patient's anatomical landmarks and adjacent tissues and structures.
Cloud platform
In the final step, all the data from the intraoral scans, jaw motion tracking, photographs, videos, CBCT, and face scans are merged and uploaded to a web-based communication platform.
We use the platform Smilecloud. This cloud allows you to analyze and share all the acquired information with the treatment team, serving as a virtual treatment room.
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Are you ready to start creating patient avatars in your dental clinic?
The digital patient avatar represents a fundamental shift in how dental care is planned and delivered. By integrating this innovative approach into your practice, you're not just adopting new technology; you're elevating the precision, reliability, and personalization of every procedure, from the initial consultation to the final stages of treatment.
Creating a digital twin of your patient allows you to simulate and refine treatment plans with unprecedented accuracy, minimizing risks and ensuring that every step of the process aligns with the patient's unique needs. This collaborative approach enhances communication within your team and with your patients, leading to better-informed decisions and more consistent, successful outcomes.
As more and more dentists embrace digital dentistry, it is important to remember that the ultimate goal is to provide patient care that is not only effective but also tailored to each patient's individual needs and preferences. Integrating digital Avatars into your practices opens up an entirely new world of endless possibilities that will make your patient care more accurate, efficient and patient-centered than ever before.