Abstract

Background: Intraoral scanners (IOS), as optical impression devices, are widely used across a range of dental and maxillofacial treatment procedures, including orthodontics, prosthodontics, and implant dentistry. The evidence regarding the demand for IOS use in specific target groups in Vietnam remains limited. Notably, postgraduate trainees in Dentistry represent a population with a strong need to update emerging technologies and a high potential to implement them in clinical practice. Assessing IOS demand in this group is therefore of practical relevance for guiding educational strategies and facilitating the implementation of digital dentistry. Therefore, we conducted the research “Survey of the need to use intraoral scanners among postgraduate students in dentistry at Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy” to assess the need to use intraoral scanner systems among this group of subjects. Objective: Survey on the need for intraoral scanners among postgraduate students of Dentistry - Thai Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Method: Cross sectional. Results: The proportion of doctors using scanners in daily clinical practice is 39.7%. Among them, 44% use them daily, while 24% use them less than twice a month. Currently, 20.6% of clinics own an intraoral scanner, and 75.6% of doctors plan to acquire one within 1 to 5 years. The budget allocated for this system is approximately 150 - 250 million VND. The two main barriers to scanner ownership are high costs (69.8%) and lack of training (22.6%). The two primary factors driving the adoption of intraoral scanning systems are exposure during training (63.5%) and recommendations from experts (19%). Conclusion: The demand for intraoral scanners is significant due to their outstanding advantages. However, adoption needs to be encouraged through pricing policies, specialized training, and expert recommendations.