Digital intraoral scanning has largely replaced conventional elastomeric impressions for fixed dental restorations due to its superior patient comfort, improved workflow efficiency, and high level of accuracy. Modern intraoral scanners provide reliable digital impressions for crowns, bridges, and implant-supported restorations, enabling seamless integration with CAD/ CAM technologies.
Despite these advances, digital scanning still has limitations when capturing deep subgingival finish lines. Optical scanners cannot reliably record preparations located below the gingival margin, which may compromise the accuracy of the definitive restoration.
The vertical guided preparation concept addresses this limitation by combining biologically oriented vertical preparation principles with a controlled, guided approach to tooth preparation. Тhe technique enables precise calibration of the preparation while allowing the soft tissues to adapt predictably. This results in a clearly identifiable emergence profile that can be captured accurately with digital scanners, leading to reproducible, predictable clinical outcomes.
As digital dentistry continues to evolve, the vertical guided preparation concept represents an important step toward overcoming one of the remaining challenges of fully digital workflows, facilitating accurate digital impressions while maintaining excellent biological and prosthetic outcomes.
