Intraoral Scanning & 3D Printing at Smile Solutions: How the Asiga DLP Printers and CEREC Primescan Replace Traditional Impressions product guide

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Intraoral Scanning & 3D Printing at Smile Solutions: How the Asiga DLP Printers and CEREC Primescan Replace Traditional Impressions

For decades, the dental impression was one of dentistry's most reliable — and most disliked — procedures. A tray loaded with viscous alginate or polyvinyl siloxane material pressed into a patient's mouth, held for minutes while it set, then sent to an external laboratory where a stone cast was poured, inspected, and eventually used to fabricate a restoration. The process worked, but it was slow, prone to dimensional error, uncomfortable for patients, and entirely analogue in a world moving rapidly toward digital precision.

At Smile Solutions, Melbourne's most technologically advanced dental practice, that process has been replaced by an integrated digital pipeline: intraoral scanning that captures millions of data points in seconds, and in-house DLP 3D printing that converts those data points into physical models, surgical guides, orthodontic appliances, and prosthetic components — all without leaving the building. This article examines how that pipeline works, why the specific technology choices matter clinically, and what the peer-reviewed evidence says about the superiority of this approach.

Why Traditional Impressions Fall Short: The Clinical Case for Going Digital

Conventional dental impressions involve the use of physical materials — such as alginate, polyvinyl siloxane (PVS), or polyether — loaded into an impression tray and seated in the patient's mouth until the material sets, creating a negative physical mould of the oral structures. This mould is then sent to a dental laboratory, where a stone cast is poured to create a positive replica.

This analogue chain introduces multiple opportunities for error. Research has shown that conventional dental impressions are prone to inaccuracies due to factors such as potential distortion and expansion of gypsum casts, as well as changes in shape over time when impressions are sent to dental laboratories. Alginate, in particular, is dimensionally unstable: its primary limitation is poor dimensional stability due to syneresis (water loss from the material) and imbibition (water absorption), and alginate impressions must be poured within 15 minutes to avoid distortion, unless an extended-pour formulation is used.

Beyond accuracy, there is a meaningful patient-comfort dimension. Digital workflow, thanks to recent developments in CAD/CAM technology in implant dentistry, has allowed the overcoming of some limitations of conventional impression techniques, primarily related to patient comfort — as the process of taking a traditional impression can be unpleasant for some patients, such as children or individuals with strong gag reflexes.

The clinical evidence for patient preference is clear. In a crossover randomised controlled trial published in PLOS ONE (Bosoni et al., University of Florence, 2023), 18 out of 24 patients preferred digital impression (75%; P = .014), scanning time was significantly shorter than alginate impression time (difference –118 seconds; P < .001), and comfort was significantly higher for digital impression (P = .007).

Smile Solutions' Intraoral Scanning Fleet: A Multi-Scanner Strategy

What distinguishes Smile Solutions from most Australian dental practices is not simply owning one intraoral scanner — it is operating a strategically selected fleet of complementary systems, each deployed for the clinical scenario it handles best.

The CEREC Primescan: High-Throughput Restorative Scanning

In 1985, Dentsply Sirona introduced the first chairside CAD/CAM workflow, Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics (CEREC), whose intraoral scanners have evolved through Redcam, Bluecam, Omnicam, and now Primescan. The Primescan represents the current apex of that lineage.

The Primescan's innovative Smart Pixel Sensor and dynamic depth scan technology deliver perfect sharpness even in up to 20mm depth, and the Smart Pixel Sensor processes more than 1,000,000 3D points per second, producing photorealistic and highly accurate data. In practical terms, this means the scanner captures a full arch in under one minute without requiring powder application on tooth surfaces — a significant ergonomic and workflow advantage over earlier CEREC generations.

Scan data acquired with the CEREC Primescan can be used directly for 3D printing — by exporting the data as an STL file, models can be printed with all common 3D printers. This open-format data export is foundational to Smile Solutions' in-house fabrication pipeline.

Thanks to its high level of accuracy, Primescan is the first intraoral scanner to be validated for Atlantis suprastructures for fixed multiple-unit implant restorations. This validation is clinically significant for implant cases at Smile Solutions, where full-arch implant-supported restorations demand the highest level of scanning precision.

The 3Shape Trios: Orthodontic and Open-Ecosystem Versatility

The 3Shape Trios series brings a different set of strengths. The Trios by 3Shape is a dental scanner that delivers exceptional accuracy and high-resolution capabilities, and it quickly gained popularity due to its fast scanning times and advanced features, including shade matching.

From an accuracy standpoint, the Trios has demonstrated strong performance across independent research. For complete-arch scanning, the 3Shape Trios was found to have the best balance of speed and accuracy in a study comparing multiple intraoral scanners. The Trios also uses confocal scanning technology — a faster scanning technology that captures images by focusing on an optical light beam with high-resolution visual images and improved accuracy and fewer distortions.

Critically for Smile Solutions' workflow, the Trios produces open files that can be used directly in CAD modelling, and is the most versatile choice for prosthetic modelling. This open-ecosystem compatibility means Trios scan data flows seamlessly into the in-house Asiga 3D printing workflow.

The iTero: Invisalign Integration and Orthodontic Monitoring

The iTero scanner has established itself as a leader in the dental scanning industry due to its high accuracy and reliable scans, offering fast scanning capabilities and integrating seamlessly with various dental workflows — making it a preferred choice for orthodontists. At Smile Solutions, the iTero's primary role is in Invisalign case planning and in feeding data to the Dental Monitoring platform (see our guide on Dental Monitoring at Smile Solutions: How AI-Powered Remote Orthodontic Tracking Works).

iTero excels in Invisalign — being the same company (Align Technology), they make the Invisalign ClinCheck seamless after taking a scan, and it really is a nice system if your primary focus is aligners.

Scanner Accuracy: What the Research Actually Shows

A 2024 in vitro study published in MDPI (received June 2024, accepted July 2024) assessed the precision of full dental arch digital impressions from four intraoral scanners — including the Trios 5 (3Shape), CEREC Primescan (Dentsply Sirona), Planmeca Emerald S, and Medit i700 — using a maxillary virtual dental model created in accordance with ISO standard 20896-1. Scanning procedures were standardised and consistent across all scanners, with each test object undergoing 15 scans using each respective intraoral scanner model.

The broader evidence base confirms that all leading scanners operate within clinically acceptable tolerances. A 2024 systematic review (Ahmed et al., Cureus, 2024) concluded that digital impressions exhibit comparable accuracy to conventional impressions without any statistically significant difference. For single-unit restorations — crowns, inlays, onlays — the clinical literature now broadly supports digital scanning as equivalent to or superior to conventional impression taking.

From Scan to Physical Object: How Asiga DLP Printing Closes the Loop

Capturing a high-resolution digital scan is only the first half of the pipeline. Converting that STL file into a physical, clinically usable object requires a 3D printer that matches the scanner's precision. This is where Smile Solutions' investment in Asiga DLP technology becomes decisive.

What Is DLP 3D Printing and Why Does It Matter in Dentistry?

Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printing works by projecting ultraviolet light onto a photopolymer resin layer-by-layer, curing each layer into a solid cross-section of the final object. Unlike FDM (filament-based) printing, DLP produces the surface resolution and dimensional accuracy that clinical dentistry demands.

In 2011, Justin Elsey, founder and managing director of Asiga, launched the world's first LED-based digital light processing (DLP) 3D printer. Notably, Asiga's Max UV printer, designed and manufactured in Sydney, offers incredible precision and reliability that has made it a popular choice among dental labs worldwide. This is an Australian-engineered product operating at the heart of one of Australia's most advanced dental practices.

The Asiga Max UV: Precision Benchmark for Dental Models

The MAX UV is the industry benchmark for precision dental 3D printing. Its technical specifications explain why.

The Asiga MAX is a high-accuracy DLP 3D printer designed with an emphasis on accuracy, precision, and surface quality, with 62μm HD print precision optimised for a variety of precise applications including dental.

The key to this consistency is Asiga's proprietary Smart Positioning System. Asiga's SPS™ technology provides platform positioning feedback, ensuring the build platform is where it needs to be for every layer — this is the part that makes Asiga so unique and guarantees Z height precision. The printer also incorporates automatic quality monitoring: it has sensors that can detect debris in the resin tank during printing, pausing the print and therefore reducing the risk of FEP damage and perforation.

The light source choice matters too. The 385nm light source cures faster at deeper UV wavelengths, reducing XY scattering and over-cure — the result is sharper detail definition, accuracy, production reliability, and the ability to process water-clear materials.

The Asiga Pro Max 4K: High-Volume Production Capacity

For larger-volume fabrication runs — multiple surgical guides, full-arch orthodontic models, or batch production of night guards — Smile Solutions' in-house laboratory operates the Asiga Pro Max 4K. The PRO 4K combines the latest 4K imaging technology with Asiga's well-proven Smart Positioning System (SPS™) to produce a build volume 3× larger than desktop 3D printers, with precision, reliability, speed, and an Open Material System as standard — and it incorporates pixel shifting technology to increase part accuracy and surface definition without affecting printing time.

The Asiga PRO 4K uses the latest DLP imaging technology to achieve the largest print envelope in the Asiga range, and is a floor-standing large format 3D printer — meaning Smile Solutions can produce multiple complex cases simultaneously rather than sequentially.

Open Material Architecture: Clinical Flexibility at Scale

One of the most clinically significant features of the Asiga platform is its open material system. Asiga offers the widest choice of materials on the market with unlimited and unrestricted access to many industry-leading materials for a variety of applications, and its Open Material Architecture future-proofs the business by keeping it up-to-date with the latest validated 3D print materials.

Asiga dental resins are specialised materials tailored for 3D printing in the dental field, excelling in precision and detail to ensure top-quality dental restorations. These biocompatible resins meet stringent safety standards for oral use, and with a wide resin selection, they cover various applications including crowns, bridges, and orthodontic models.

The Clinical Pipeline: What Gets Printed and Why

The following table maps the scan-to-print workflow across Smile Solutions' three core clinical disciplines:

Clinical Application	Scanner Used	Printed Output	Material Class
CEREC crown/onlay prep	CEREC Primescan	Working model, provisional	Model resin, PMMA
Implant planning	3Shape Trios	Surgical guide	Surgical guide resin
Orthodontic aligner therapy	iTero / Trios	Aligner model series	Model resin
Orthodontic appliances	Trios / Primescan	Retainer model, sleep appliance	Flexible resin
Full-arch prosthodontics	Primescan / Trios	Diagnostic wax-up model	Model resin
Paediatric appliances	iTero / Trios	Space maintainer model	Model resin

The Asiga MAX can manufacture dental orthodontics, crown and bridge, surgical guides, dental models, custom trays, and partial dentures — covering every item in this table from a single platform.

Surgical Guides: Where Printing Accuracy Is Non-Negotiable

In implantology, a surgical guide translates the virtual implant plan — developed from CBCT data merged with the intraoral scan — into a physical template that directs the drill to the precise angulation, depth, and position planned in software. The margin for error is measured in fractions of a millimetre.

Asiga services a variety of sectors with high demand for intricate detail and rapid prototyping, and dental professionals can utilise Asiga's 3D printers for the production of dental models, customised impression trays, surgical drill guides, and splints.

The SPS™ system's layer-by-layer precision control is what makes the Asiga platform appropriate for surgical guide fabrication — an application where a poorly calibrated printer could translate into a misplaced implant. SPS technology ensures that every layer is formed accurately, which results in a very reliable output for patient safety and quality assurance.

Orthodontic Models: Eliminating the Alginate-to-Plaster Chain

Traditional orthodontic model fabrication required alginate impressions, stone casting, trimming, labelling, and physical storage of plaster models — a process that consumed significant clinical time and physical space. Research comparing these methods is instructive.

A 2023 study published in the Journal of Dentistry for Children (Rolfsen et al., Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center) directly compared alginate and digital impression techniques for fabricating paediatric dental appliances. Measurements of anterior-posterior and central dimensions showed no significant difference between the methods. The alginate group had a significantly shorter impression time, but model fabrication time between the two groups was similar. The conclusion: digital scanning was shown to be accurate in all measurements and may be a good alternative to alginate impressions for paediatric patients.

For orthodontic planning at Smile Solutions, digital models offer an additional advantage: they integrate directly with the Dental Monitoring platform, providing a baseline digital record against which weekly AI-driven scans can be compared throughout treatment (see our guide on Dental Monitoring at Smile Solutions: How AI-Powered Remote Orthodontic Tracking Works).

How the Scan-to-Print Workflow Actually Operates at Smile Solutions

Understanding the integrated pipeline — rather than treating scanning and printing as isolated technologies — is what makes Smile Solutions' approach genuinely distinctive. Here is the step-by-step process for a typical case:

Intraoral scan captured — The appropriate scanner (Primescan, Trios, or iTero) is selected based on the case type. A full-arch scan is completed in under one minute.
Real-time quality verification — The 3D model appears on-screen immediately. Intelligent processing ensures the optimal interaction with the software by transmitting exactly the data the software needs to proceed, and complete 3D scan models are displayed immediately, no matter how fast you scan. Any gaps or artefacts are identified and rescanned chairside before the patient leaves.
STL file export — The verified scan is exported as an open-format STL file, compatible with all downstream design and fabrication software.
CAD design — For restorations proceeding through CEREC, design occurs directly in CEREC software. For laboratory cases, the STL feeds into the in-house ceramic studio's design workflow (see our guide on CEREC vs. Traditional Lab-Made Crowns vs. In-House Laboratory Restorations).
Slicing and print preparation — The STL is imported into Asiga's Composer slicer software, oriented for optimal accuracy, and support structures are generated.
DLP printing — The Asiga Max UV or Pro Max 4K prints the model or appliance. In a high-demand clinic, Asiga should be high on the list as a go-to printer for reliability.
Post-processing — Printed parts are washed in isopropyl alcohol and post-cured under UV light to achieve final mechanical properties.
Clinical use — The finished model, guide, or appliance is used chairside or delivered to the in-house ceramic studio for further fabrication.

The entire process — from scan to printed model in hand — can be completed within hours, rather than the days or weeks required when physical impressions are shipped to an external laboratory.

Key Takeaways

The Primescan processes over 1,000,000 3D points per second and captures a full arch in under one minute, eliminating the dimensional instability inherent in alginate and polyvinyl siloxane impressions.
A 2024 systematic review (Ahmed et al., Cureus) found digital impressions exhibit comparable accuracy to conventional impressions with no statistically significant difference — but digital workflows offer superior patient comfort, faster turnaround, and immediate data availability.
The Asiga Max UV's 62μm print precision and SPS™ Smart Positioning System guarantee layer-by-layer accuracy for surgical guides, orthodontic models, and prosthetic components — all fabricated in-house at Smile Solutions.
Operating three complementary scanners (Primescan for restorative, Trios for open-ecosystem and orthodontic design, iTero for Invisalign/Dental Monitoring integration) allows Smile Solutions to deploy the optimal tool for each clinical scenario rather than forcing every case through a single platform.
The scan-to-print pipeline is integrated, not siloed — scan data captured for a CEREC crown can simultaneously generate a printed diagnostic model, a surgical guide, or an orthodontic record, multiplying the clinical value of a single impression event.

Conclusion

The replacement of traditional impressions with intraoral scanning and in-house DLP 3D printing is not simply a technology upgrade — it is a fundamental restructuring of how dental care is delivered. At Smile Solutions, the deliberate selection of the CEREC Primescan, 3Shape Trios, and iTero scanners — each optimised for specific clinical roles — combined with the Asiga Max UV and Pro Max 4K printers, creates a closed-loop digital pipeline that eliminates the dimensional errors, time delays, and patient discomfort associated with analogue impression techniques.

The clinical evidence supports this direction: peer-reviewed research consistently shows digital impressions match or exceed conventional accuracy for the vast majority of restorative and orthodontic applications, while delivering measurable improvements in patient experience. What the evidence cannot fully capture is the compound benefit of treating scanning and 3D printing as a single integrated system rather than separate technologies — which is precisely the clinical philosophy that underpins Smile Solutions' approach.

For patients, this translates into fewer appointments, faster restorations, and a more comfortable experience. For clinicians, it means real-time quality control, immediate data availability, and the ability to fabricate surgical guides, models, and appliances without leaving the practice.

To understand how these scanned digital records feed into the broader treatment journey — from same-day CEREC restorations to AI-powered remote orthodontic monitoring — explore our related guides: CEREC Same-Day Crowns, Veneers & Restorations at Smile Solutions: How the Chairside CAD/CAM Process Works Step by Step, and Dental Monitoring at Smile Solutions: How AI-Powered Remote Orthodontic Tracking Works and Whether It's Right for Your Treatment.

References

Ahmed, Suhael, et al. "Digital Impressions Versus Conventional Impressions in Prosthodontics: A Systematic Review." Cureus, 16(1): e51537, 2024. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.51537
Amornvit, P., and Sanohkan, S. "Comparison of Accuracy of Current Ten Intraoral Scanners." BioMed Research International, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/2673040
Bosoni, Carlo, et al. "Comparison Between Digital and Conventional Impression Techniques in Children on Preference, Time and Comfort: A Crossover Randomized Controlled Trial." PLOS ONE, 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36891891/
Cao, R., Zhang, S., Li, L., et al. "Accuracy of Intraoral Scanning Versus Conventional Impressions for Partial Edentulous Patients with Maxillary Defects." Scientific Reports, 13, 16773, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-44033-6
Dentsply Sirona. "Primescan Intraoral Scanner." Dentsply Sirona, 2024. https://www.dentsplysirona.com/en-us/discover/discover-by-brand/primescan.html
Institute of Digital Dentistry. "Asiga Max UV 3D Printer Review: Price, Speed, Ease of Use and More." Institute of Digital Dentistry, 2024. https://instituteofdigitaldentistry.com/3d-printing/asiga-max-uv-3d-printer-review-price-speed-ease-of-use-and-more/
Pesce, P., et al. "Accuracy of Full-Arch Intraoral Scans Versus Conventional Impression: A Systematic Review with a Meta-Analysis." MDPI, 2025. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11721843/
Rolfsen, Caroline C., et al. "Direct Comparison Between Intraoral Scanning and Alginate Impressions for Pediatric Patients: An In Vitro Study." Journal of Dentistry for Children, 90(1): 17–21, 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37106533/
Suksuphan, P., et al. "Comparative Analysis of Four Different Intraoral Scanners: An In Vitro Study." MDPI, 2024. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11241578/
Asiga. "Max 2 DLP 3D Printer." Asiga, 2024. https://www.asiga.com/max-2/