COMPARISONS
Send a physical impression vs send a digital scan
For most crown, bridge, and implant cases, a digital scan shipped to Dani Dental arrives in minutes, skips courier costs, and lets the technician flag margin issues same-day. Physical PVS impressions still win for full-arch removables on edentulous ridges and practices without...
THE BOTTOM LINE
For most crown, bridge, and implant cases, a digital scan shipped to Dani Dental arrives in minutes, skips courier costs, and lets the technician flag margin issues same-day. Physical PVS impressions still win for full-arch removables on edentulous ridges and practices without an intraoral scanner. Dani accepts both; the digital path averages 2 to 4 days faster to seat.
SIDE BY SIDE
Physical PVS impression (shipped) vs Digital intraoral scan (uploaded)
| Consideration | Physical PVS impression (shipped) | Digital intraoral scan (uploaded) |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival time to lab | 1 to 3 days courier | Under 10 minutes upload |
| Margin readability flagged before pour | false | true |
| Shipping cost per case | $8 to $22 courier | $0 |
| Distortion risk in transit | Temperature + tray flex | None, file is static |
| Works for edentulous full-arch removables | Preferred, captures tissue mobility | Workable but harder on flabby ridges |
| Re-take requires patient re-appointment | true | Often re-scan section only, same visit |
| Capital equipment in office | None, stock trays + PVS | Intraoral scanner ($18K to $35K) |
| Average days saved to seat (Dani internal, crown & bridge) | Baseline | 2 to 4 days faster |
| Implant case planning collaboration | Slower, scan-and-email of stone model | Same-day STL review with the technician |
THE TRADE-OFFS
Where each one earns its place
<p>The decision is rarely ideological; it tracks the case type and what is already in the operatory. For single-unit and multi-unit fixed work on dentate arches, digital wins on every axis that matters to a referring dentist: speed, cost, and the ability for the technician on the case to flag a short margin before stone ever gets poured.</p><p>Use a digital intraoral scan when the case is crown and bridge, an implant-supported fixed prosthetic, or any All-on-X workflow where the surgical guide and final prosthetic come from the same digital file. Pick a physical PVS impression when the case is a conventional full or partial denture on an edentulous ridge with significant tissue mobility, since the border mold captures functional anatomy a static scan does not. Choose digital when chair-time savings on remakes matter more than the $18K to $35K scanner capex, and go with physical when the practice does not yet own a scanner and the case volume does not justify the capital.</p><p>For mixed practices, the common pattern Dani sees: scan everything fixed, impression everything removable, and let the digital workflow team at the lab handle the file routing on hybrid cases.</p>
<p>Dani Dental accepts both, and the workflow is built so neither path penalizes the case. Digital scans route directly to the technician assigned to the case, who reviews margins and contacts the office within hours if anything needs a re-scan. Physical impressions get poured the day they arrive in Glendale and follow the same named-technician accountability model. Internal data points to a <2.5% remake rate across both intake methods.</p><p>Honest call: if the practice does heavy removables on edentulous patients and does not own a scanner, the physical path is genuinely better for those cases, and a national digital-only lab will under-serve that workflow. If the practice is mostly fixed prosthetics on dentate arches, the scanner pays for itself in saved chair-time within 18 to 24 months at typical case volumes.</p>
IN PRACTICE
How it plays out on real cases
Worked case examples for this comparison are coming. Send us your case and we will show you exactly how each option would play out.
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