Why file preparation decides your turnaround
Most delays in remote CAD design are not design problems — they are input problems. A missing bite registration, a scan body that was not fully captured, or an implant system that was never specified all stop the work before it starts, and each round of clarification adds hours or a full day.
Getting the files right on the first send is the single cheapest way to shorten turnaround. The checklist below covers what a designer needs for the most common indications.
The file formats and what each one is for
Three formats cover almost everything in a digital dental workflow:
- STL — plain surface mesh, no colour. The standard for preparations, arches, antagonists and printable output.
- PLY (or OBJ) — mesh with colour or texture. Useful when shade, margin marking or soft-tissue reading matters.
- DICOM — the CBCT volume. Required for surgical guides and implant planning; export the full series, not a screenshot or a rendered view.
Minimum set of files by indication
Sending the right set the first time avoids the most common back-and-forth:
- Crown or bridge: preparation scan, antagonist scan, bite registration, plus a pre-operative scan if the shape should be copied
- Implant crown or custom abutment: scan with the scan body seated, antagonist, bite, implant brand, platform diameter and connection
- Implant bar or full arch: scan bodies on all implants, antagonist, existing denture or planned setup, attachment preference
- Surgical guide: DICOM series plus an STL of the arch, and the planned implant positions or the clinical intention
- Night guard or splint: both arches, bite registration at the intended vertical dimension, appliance type
- Removable partial: full arch scan including the edentulous ridges, antagonist, and any surveyed abutment crowns
- Custom tray: the arch scan and the impression material or technique you will use
Export settings that matter
Scanner software offers export options that quietly affect design quality. A few are worth checking once and then leaving alone:
- Export at the scanner's native or high resolution — heavy decimation rounds off the margin line
- Export the arches unsectioned as well as the die, so the designer can verify context
- Keep the arches in the same coordinate system so the bite matches without manual alignment
- Do not pre-trim aggressively; a little extra soft tissue helps, missing data does not
- Export DICOM as the original series, with the field of view covering the planned implant sites and enough of the arch to align the scan
Scanning mistakes that cause redesigns
These are the issues that most often send a case back:
- Blood, saliva or retraction cord obscuring the margin — the design can only be as accurate as the visible finish line
- Incomplete scan body capture, which makes the implant position and rotation unreliable
- A bite registration taken with the patient not fully seated, producing occlusion that will not match the model
- Holes in the antagonist over the functional cusps, where occlusion is actually verified
- Scanning the preparation before the adjacent teeth are cleaned, so the contacts are built against debris
What to write in the prescription
The prescription does not need to be long, but it needs to be unambiguous. Indication, material, tooth numbers, cement gap preference if you have one, occlusal contact intensity, and anything specific to the patient. For implant work, the system and platform are not optional details — the whole interface geometry depends on them.
If you are unsure what to send for a particular case, send us the scans and the question. We will tell you what is missing before starting, rather than delivering a design built on incomplete data.