---
title: "What Is Digital dentistry? Dental Practice Glossary"
description: "Digital dentistry is dental care that uses digital tools, such as scanners, digital x-rays and computer design, in place of some manual steps."
url: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/digital-dentistry
publisher: Copeland Consulting Services
email: drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com
contact: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact
---

Technology and implants

# Digital dentistry

Digital dentistry is dental care that uses digital tools, such as scanners, digital x-rays and computer design, in place of some manual steps.

Digital dentistry covers tools that capture, design or make things from digital data. A 2026 paper lists computer-aided design and manufacturing systems, three-dimensional printing, digital radiography, intraoral scanners and artificial intelligence as technologies that are increasingly central to clinical dentistry.

A practice may use one tool or many. An [intraoral scanner](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/intraoral-scanner) can feed a design program, and a mill or printer can make the final piece. When the steps connect, the result is a [digital workflow](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/digital-workflow).

Buying digital tools costs money and training time. Owners often compare cost with expected return before they buy. See [technology return on investment](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/technology-return-on-investment).

[Next stepIndustry work with Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact?topic=industry)

## Related terms

-   [Digital workflow](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/digital-workflow)
-   [Intraoral scanner](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/intraoral-scanner)
-   [CAD/CAM](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/cad-cam)
-   [Technology return on investment](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/technology-return-on-investment)

## Sources

1.  [PubMed Central: Digital dentistry among clinical-year dental students](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13660230/)

## Talk with Dr. Copeland

[Contact Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact)[Email](mailto:drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com)