Technology & Laboratory

Dental technology supports three steps of treatment. X-rays and scans record what an examination alone cannot show. Planning software and computer-aided design turn those records into a plan and a restoration. A dental laboratory then makes crowns, bridges, veneers and dentures to the dentist's prescription. All of these are restorations: they repair or replace teeth. Some clinics mill some restorations themselves.

Each of these tools has limits, and none of them replaces the dentist's examination and judgement. This page summarises each of them and links to our more detailed pages. Study findings quoted here come from published research, not from our own records. On this page, "we" means our clinic in Antalya. Your dentist will tell you which of these technologies are used in your treatment, and where, and you can ask for this in writing. Our materials page explains the materials that crowns, bridges, veneers and dentures are made from.

• Diagnostic imaging (X-rays, CBCT). What it is for: showing teeth, roots and bone that an examination cannot see. One main limit: each image has to be justified for you; a CBCT scan usually gives a higher dose.
• Digital scanning. What it is for: recording the surfaces of the teeth and gums as a 3D model, without an impression tray. One main limit: edges under the gum are hard to capture, and blood can hide them.
• Digital treatment planning. What it is for: planning implant positions and other treatment on a 3D model. One main limit: a plan is a proposal; implants do not end up exactly where planned.
• CAD/CAM. What it is for: designing restorations on a computer, then milling or 3D-printing them. One main limit: CAD/CAM ceramic restorations have not been shown to last longer than conventionally made ones.
• Dental laboratory. What it is for: making crowns, bridges, veneers and dentures to the dentist's prescription. One main limit: a model is not your mouth, so the fit and bite are checked at the try-in (a trial fitting).
• Digital smile design. What it is for: showing how new front teeth might look. One main limit: a simulation, not a promise of the result.

Dental X-rays help diagnose problems an examination alone can miss. Examples are decay, gum disease that has reached the bone, and infection at the tip of a root¹. Intraoral and panoramic X-rays are two-dimensional (2D). A cone beam CT (CBCT) scan shows the teeth and jaws in three dimensions. It is for questions a 2D X-ray cannot answer, such as some implant, wisdom tooth or root canal cases.

Selection Criteria for Dental Radiography (2018) is a guide to choosing dental X-rays, written for dentists in the UK ("the selection guidance" below). It says each image should be chosen for you, after your history has been taken and you have been examined¹. The main limits are radiation and detail. Dental X-rays and CBCT scans use ionising radiation, and according to the selection guidance the risk is mainly that of causing cancer¹. According to European guidelines on dental CBCT (2012), CBCT doses are generally higher than those of intraoral and panoramic X-rays². They also vary widely between machines. Metal crowns, posts and fillings can cause streaks on a CBCT scan, called artefacts¹. An image never replaces an examination.

The European guidelines say a CBCT scan should be used only when the question cannot be answered adequately by lower-dose conventional X-rays². It should not be repeated ‘routinely’² without a new assessment of its benefit and risk. The scan should cover the smallest area suited to the clinical situation². The guidelines also call for a thorough clinical evaluation (‘radiological report’) of the entire image dataset², not only of the area being treated.

Tell your dentist before any X-ray if you are or might be pregnant. Tell them too about X-rays and scans you have had recently, and bring them, with the date each was taken. The selection guidance advises dentists to seek originals or copies of radiographs taken elsewhere¹ when they are relevant.

An intraoral scan records your teeth and gums as a 3D model on a computer. A small handheld scanner projects light onto the teeth and gums³; it does not use X-rays. It replaces the tray of setting material used for a conventional impression, and the model can be sent to the dental laboratory electronically³. A 2021 systematic review of clinical studies found scanning overall faster than conventional impressions⁴, and patients generally preferred it. Neither finding held in every study.

The main limit is that a scanner records only what it can see. Edges of a prepared (shaped) tooth that lie under the gum are hard to capture, and blood may hide the edges³. Scans are not more accurate than impressions in every case. Some full-arch work on implants, which replaces all the teeth in a jaw, is one example (see "Technology limitations and clinical judgement" below).

Our digital scanning page explains how a scan is taken and checked, its accuracy limits and your scan files.

Digital treatment planning means planning treatment on a computer, on a 3D model built from your records. For implants, a scan of the teeth and gums can be combined with a CBCT scan³ of the bone. The dentist then plans where each implant should go. The plan can be carried into surgery with a 3D-printed guide or a navigation system. Or the dentist places the implants freehand, using the plan as a reference.

A 2025 review of 13 systematic reviews compared guided methods, taken together, with freehand placement. Guided placement ended up closer to the plan, but implant survival and bone loss around the implants were comparable⁵. The main limit is that a plan is a proposal. Implants do not end up exactly where they were planned, and the plan may change at the examination or during surgery. Some implants are planned close to important structures, such as the nerve in the lower jaw. For these, the European guidelines advise clinical judgement and a margin of safety². A plan or a guide does not remove the risks of surgery. Our digital treatment planning page explains guides, navigation, accuracy and plan changes.

Scans can also be used for digital smile design³, together with photographs of your face and smile, to plan how new front teeth might look. The plan is shown on a screen as a simulation, not a promise of the result.

CAD/CAM stands for computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing. A crown, inlay, onlay, veneer, bridge or denture is designed on a computer and then made by a machine. A 2014 review describes two ways of working⁶: milling the restoration from a solid block, or building it up in thin layers (3D printing). The design usually starts from an intraoral scan. A dental technician or the dentist checks the scan, the design and the finished restoration, and the dentist checks the fit in your mouth. Design and manufacture can happen in a dental laboratory or, where a clinic has the equipment, at the clinic itself (chairside). A crown milled at the clinic can, in suitable cases, be fitted in one appointment.

The main limit is that CAD/CAM ceramic restorations have not been shown to last longer than conventionally made ones. A 2019 review of 14 clinical studies compared ceramic restorations made by CAD/CAM with conventionally made ones. It found more failures with the CAD/CAM restorations⁷. The difference was statistically significant. The CAD/CAM restorations in that review included ones milled in laboratories. Its search ended in 2017, so its findings may not reflect today's materials and machines.

Our CAD/CAM page explains design, milling, 3D printing, material choice and checks.

A dental laboratory makes the parts of your treatment that are made to measure outside the mouth, such as crowns, bridges, veneers and dentures. The people who make them are dental technicians. Guidance on the scope of practice of dental professionals, written for those registered in the UK, describes their role. It says they construct custom-made dental devices to the prescription of a dentist⁸. Among their usual tasks, it lists verifying and taking responsibility for the quality and safety⁸ of devices leaving a dental laboratory. Turkey's medical device regulation defines a custom-made device as one made for a particular patient. It is made to a written prescription that gives specific design characteristics under the prescriber's responsibility⁹. Its maker draws up a statement before placing the device on the market⁹, and the device is accompanied by that statement⁹. The regulation does not say that you receive a copy, so ask for one.

The main limit is that a model is not your mouth. The fit, the bite and the look of front teeth can only be fully judged in your mouth, at the try-in. Some clinics have their own laboratory; others send the work to an outside one. Your dentist will tell you which laboratory makes your restoration, and you can ask for this in writing.

Our dental laboratory page explains the prescription, shade matching, checks, remakes and who is responsible for what.

Technology supports the dentist's examination and judgement; it does not replace them. Whether you need treatment, and which treatment, is decided from your history, an examination and a discussion with the dentist.

• Imaging. The 2012 European guidelines say the primary question is whether or not cross-sectional (3D) imaging is required for implant planning². Recommendations from 2018 say a CBCT scan could be justified for diagnosis and planning before surgery¹⁰. Neither source sets a rule for every implant: both leave the decision to the dentist, for each patient. How implants are planned at our clinic is explained on our dental implant treatment page.
• Scans. For full-arch bridges on more than four implants, a 2025 review found conventional impressions slightly more accurate than digital methods taken together¹¹. The digital methods were intraoral scans and photogrammetry, a camera-based method. In the review's analysis by method, intraoral scanners on their own did not differ from conventional impressions¹¹. This does not show that they are equally accurate. Most of the studies in that review were laboratory studies.
• Guided surgery. The 2018 consensus report of the International Team for Implantology (ITI) looked at surgery with a printed guide (static guided surgery). It sees such surgery as an additional tool¹². It concluded that it cannot be stated¹² that it is better than surgery without a guide for pain and discomfort, costs or complications during surgery.
• Same-day crowns. The reviews we cite did not assess same-day (chairside) work separately⁷, so they cannot tell us whether same-day crowns last as long¹³ as laboratory-made ones.

None of these tools removes the risks of treatment. You can ask why each one is proposed for you.

Before treatment, ask these questions, and ask for the answers in writing:

• which X-rays, scans and digital plans are proposed for you, and why;
• where your imaging, scanning, design and manufacture are done;
• who reports your X-rays and CBCT scans, who checks your intraoral scans and your plan, and who makes and checks your restorations;
• how your images, scans and plans are stored, who can see them, and for how long;
• what your written plan says if a restoration does not fit or fails, and whether a remake is included;
• what the cost covers, for example scans, planning, any surgical guide and remakes.

You have the right to be told, on request, who is treating you, and their role and title¹⁴.

Records. Private dental clinics in Turkey record the diagnosis, the treatment and any X-rays in detail, with tooth numbers¹⁵. You can examine your file and records and get a copy¹⁴. Ask for copies of your X-rays and scan files, in a format another dentist can open. For a CBCT scan, that means the data files with a viewer, and the report. Ask also for a summary of your plan and a written record of each restoration: material, product, shade and laboratory. For implants, add the system, part and lot (batch) numbers.

Consent. Under Turkey's patient rights regulation, you are told about other options, with their benefits and risks, and the possible consequences of refusing¹⁴. In private dental clinics, you are asked to sign a consent form for every intervention¹⁵. Two copies of the form are signed, and one is given to you¹⁴. Ask for your copy.

Your choice. A second opinion from another dentist gives you a point of comparison. You can say no, or ask to stop, at any stage. Once a tooth has been prepared (shaped) for a restoration, that step cannot be undone.