18 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST PRODUCT REVIEW Digital scanners have revolutionised modern dentistry – improving efficiency, accuracy, and patient comfort. But as any clinician who has worked with these knows, not all scanners are created equal. Having worked with multiple systems over the years – from the CEREC Omnicam and Medit i300/i500 as an associate, to now using the Trios in my own clinic – I wanted to share an honest perspective on what actually makes a scanner great. CEREC Omnicam – Where it all began My first real exposure to digital scanning came with the CEREC Omnicam. At the time, it was considered cutting-edge: a powder-free, full-colour scanner that could integrate with chairside milling. In practice, though, I found the Omnicam required patience. Capturing clean, consistent scans wasn’t always smooth, deeper margins were tricky, and maintaining a steady scanning flow took effort. To the best of my knowledge, the Omnicam is now mainly available via second-hand or refurbished channels in Australia, as Dentsply Sirona has shifted focus to the PrimeScan. Medit i300 / i500 / i700 / i900 – A brand finding its stride Earlier in my career, I worked with the Medit i300 and later the Medit i500 (released in 2018). Both were open-system, budget-friendly scanners. The i300 felt rudimentary, while the i500 was a step up – faster, more detailed, and more stable – though it still struggled with deeper margins and the smaller tips weren’t ideal for patient comfort. I haven’t used the i700 or i900 personally, but clinicians around me – including a specialist colleague who uses the i700 daily – consistently say the i700 remains the best value point: lighter, faster, smoother, and a huge improvement on the i500. Many also comment that the i900 doesn’t offer a big enough clinical improvement to justify the price jump for most practices. Medit still has no mandatory ongoing licence fees, although offers optional paid Medit Link cloud storage tiers and some pay-per-use app modules, making it a flexible but evolving ecosystem. Scanner Wars: A Clinician’s Real-World Take on Digital Impressions in 2025 By Dr Jenny Liu, Principal Dentist, Happy Dentistry, Melbourne CBD Trios – A seamless fit for modern practice When I started my own clinic, I chose the Trios 3 (wired). It was fast, intuitive, accurate at margins, and much more stable than many other systems I had used before. I later upgraded to a newer-generation Trios 3 – essentially the same scanner in terms of software, colour rendering, and speed, but physically lighter and much more ergonomic, which is a big deal for clinicians with small hands like me. Clinically, Trios remains far better at capturing phonetic bites or disoccluded bites than the older Medit models, aligning arches more predictably even when the patient isn’t fully occluded. The Trios Core offers a lower-cost entry into the ecosystem, while the Trios 4, 5, 6, and 7 bring generation improvements in instant-heating tips, wireless ergonomics, refined algorithms, and AI alignment. However a major limitation is that none of the newer Trios models integrate with Invisalign. This remains the main reason I still use the Trios 3: it remains the last Trios unit with Invisalign integration. CEREC PrimeScan – Brilliant, powerful, and expanding PrimeScan is outstanding, especially if you run CEREC in-house. It’s ultra-fast, incredibly detailed, and strong on deep margins unless they are extremely deep. Colour reproduction is excellent – lifelike and highly accurate – and the AI stitching is exceptionally smooth. The downside is that it’s physically large, and with my size-small hands, the handpiece feels big. Patient comfort can also be impacted due to the size of the tip. PrimeScan integrates with DS Core, which includes advanced aligner simulation (SureSmile Simulator), collaboration tools, and lab integrations. While the scanner licence is included, DS Core cloud and DS Core Care support operate on subscriptions. Allied Star & Straumann A-Series – reliable, ergonomic, and evolving I recently used the Allied Star AS 200E wireless scanner and was genuinely impressed. It’s lightweight, well-balanced, comfortable, has a very stable wireless connection, and the heated anti-fog tip works beautifully. Colour rendering is accurate, and scanning margins is straightforward. I haven’t used the Straumann-branded A-Series version personally, but it is based on the same hardware, with Straumann adding deeper digital ecosystem integration. Both scanners are available in Australia – Allied Star sold independently (approximately AUD $23k, no licence fees), and Straumann packaged for integration into the Straumann system.
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