Why You’re Here

If you’ve arrived at this page, chances are you’ve experienced one of these common challenges:

• Your digital scans are coming back from the lab marked “margin unclear.”
• Impressions don’t fully capture the preparation and need to be retaken.
• Remakes or chairside adjustments are adding stress and wasted time.

These issues almost always trace back to tissue management, retraction, and moisture control. The good news is that with the right approach, predictable accuracy is absolutely achievable.

What This Means for Your Practice

Every unclear margin leads to delays, remakes, and extra chair time. Patients lose confidence when they need to return for another appointment, and your team loses valuable production hours.

At Rohling Dental Laboratory, our goal is to help you reduce remakes, save chair time, and deliver predictable results. When margins are clear, restorations seat smoothly and patients leave happy.

Scan Examples: Good vs. Needs Attention

Use this gallery to compare clear, fully visible margins with scans that commonly trigger “margin unclear” notes. Replace the placeholder images and captions with your own screenshots and a brief narrative on what went right (or wrong) and how to correct it (e.g., dual-cord technique, additional retraction, hemostasis, or drying).

• What to look for: uninterrupted margin line, no pooled fluid, and adequate tissue displacement.
• When to pause: if any segment of the finish line is hidden by tissue or moisture, stop and manage before rescanning.

Traditional Impressions

Tissue Retraction: Adequate displacement of the gingiva is essential to expose the entire finish line. Retraction cord, hemostatic agents, or retraction pastes can be used to open the sulcus.

Hydraulic Compression Effect: When light-body VPS is syringed directly into the sulcus, it is hydraulically forced against the preparation, displacing fluid and capturing margin detail with remarkable accuracy.

Material Flow: High-quality impression materials are designed to flow into even the smallest crevices, ensuring crisp reproduction of line angles and subgingival detail.

Digital Scans

Line of Sight: Unlike impression materials, scanners cannot displace tissue or fluids. The margin must be fully visible to the scanner’s camera.

Tissue Retraction: Retraction must be even more precise than in traditional impressions. Both mechanical retraction (cord, paste, laser, or electrosurgery) and moisture control are essential.

No Hydraulic Compression: Digital scanners cannot replicate the hydraulic effect of VPS. If tissue or fluids obscure the margin, the scanner cannot capture it.

Practical Solutions You Can Apply Today

• Before scanning or impressing: verify that the gingiva is fully retracted and dry. If not, pause and address it first.
• Use dual cord technique when margins are subgingival; remove the top cord just before scanning.
• Control bleeding with hemostatic agents or laser tissue management to keep the field clear.
• Communicate with your lab: let us know margin location or any prep complexities so we can assist in design.

How We Partner With You

• Case Review: If a margin is unclear, our technicians flag it immediately and provide practical suggestions—not just a rejection.
• Direct Support: Call or email for guidance on scan strategy, retraction protocol, or prep design notes.
• Predictable Quality: We target smooth seating with minimal adjustment to protect your chair time and patient experience.

We’re more than a lab—we’re your partner in delivering excellent patient care.

Key Takeaways

• Traditional impressions are highly reliable when tissue is properly displaced and light-body VPS is injected into the sulcus.
• Digital scans demand superior retraction and moisture control since scanners cannot compress tissues or fluids.
• Tissue management is the single most critical factor in achieving accuracy with either method.