Scanner cloud portals vs a shared case: what each one tracks
A scanner’s cloud portal tracks the digital order for scans from that scanner. Here is what three makers document, and what a shared case tracks as well.
By the Tusko team
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Every major intraoral scanner comes with a cloud service that sends scans to a lab. It is the quickest route a scan can take.
Each service tracks the digital order in its own way. None of them was designed to hold every case a practice or a lab has open.
This guide sets out what three makers document about their own services, and what a shared case tracks beside them.
What a scanner portal is for
A scanner portal moves a digital impression from the chair to the lab. The scan travels with an order form.
The lab opens it in the maker’s service. It can review the scan, accept the order, and bring the files into its design software.
Some services also carry a design back to the dentist for approval.
That is a real job, done well. A file that used to be zipped and emailed now arrives on its own.
What three makers document
The notes below come from each maker’s own pages, read in October 2026. The services do more than these pages cover, and they change often.
iTero and MyiTero
Align’s page for labs says the dentist can send a scan straight to the lab.
The lab can then review it “in real time while the patient is still in the chair”, and give feedback on quality.
The same page says a lab can “instantly view scans online, no need to download files”, from a computer or a tablet.
3Shape Communicate
A 3Shape support article lists the statuses an order passes through.
| Status | What happened |
|---|---|
| “Scanned sent” | The dentist scanned an order and sent it to the lab |
| “Scanned received” | The technician received the order |
| “Scanned approved” | The technician accepted it |
| “Designed approved” | The technician sent the design to the dentist |
| “Designed rejected” | The dentist rejected a design |
Medit Link
Medit’s page on ordering from labs starts with a partnership. The practice requests one, and the lab accepts.
The practice then orders a case from its Case Box. Medit says the order “will be reflected as Pending until the lab accepts the order”.
The page describes later steps too. An order shows as accepted, then as shipped, and the practice confirms delivery when the work arrives.
The three side by side
| Maker | Service | What its page describes |
|---|---|---|
| Align | MyiTero | Sending a scan to the lab, and the lab reviewing it online |
| 3Shape | Communicate | Five order statuses, from sent to design approved or rejected |
| Medit | Medit Link | Lab partnerships, and orders from pending to delivery confirmed |
Each maker defines an order in its own terms. A status in one service has no exact twin in another.
What sits outside any one portal
The limits below come from how these services are built. They are not faults in any product.
Cases from another source. A portal holds orders made on its maker’s scanners. A physical impression is not in it, and neither is a denture repair.
Other makers’ scanners. A lab whose practices use three makes of scanner has three services to watch.
The patient’s appointment. The seat date lives in the practice’s schedule. Ask your scanner’s maker what its service holds about it.
The lab’s own stages. Between accepting an order and shipping it, the work moves through the lab. Ask how much of that the service shows.
The conversation. A question may be asked in the service, by phone or by email. Where it ends up varies.
None of this argues against using the portal. It explains why a second list tends to appear beside it.
How it looks from the lab
A lab’s morning can start with several inboxes.
- One service for each make of scanner its practices use
- Email, for scans sent as attachments or links
- The driver’s pickups, with paper slips
- The phone, for changes and rush requests
Every one of them is a way for a case to arrive. The lab needs a single list of what did.
Check each inbox at set times, and log every case into one place the same day. A case seen and not logged is the one that goes missing.
Name one person to clear each inbox, and a second to cover days off.
Tell practices which services you accept, and what you need on the order form. How to send intraoral scans to a dental lab covers the practice’s side.
File type matters too. STL vs PLY explains what each one carries.
How it looks from the practice
A practice with one scanner has one portal. It shows the orders that scanner sent.
It does not show the impression that went out in a box, or a case sent to a lab that is not on that service.
So the front desk checks the portal for some cases and calls about the rest. The patient’s appointment sits in a third place.
A practice needs one list of every open case, whatever its source. How to track dental lab cases in your practice compares the ways to keep one.
Add each case to the list the moment the scan is sent, with the lab and the due date.
Check that list against the schedule each day. A case that is ready in the portal can still be missing from the building.
What a shared case tracks
A shared case is one record that the lab and the practice both open. The scan is one of the things on it.
What each one tracks
Two columns compare what is tracked. A scanner portal tracks the scan files from that maker’s scanners, the order form in the maker’s format and the maker’s order statuses. It does not hold cases from impressions or from other scanners, messages vary by service, and the seat date is a question for the maker. A shared case tracks the scan files from any source, the order form as the Rx, the lab’s stages, cases from impressions and from other scanners, the messages and the seat date.
A scanner portal
Moves a scan from the chair to the lab
- Yes: The scan files, from that maker’s scanners
- Yes: The order form, in the maker’s format
- Status, as the maker’s order statuses
- No: Cases from impressions
- No: Cases from other scanners
- Messages vary by service
- The seat date is a question for the maker
A shared case
One record that the lab and the practice both open
- Yes: The scan files, from any source
- Yes: The order form, as the Rx
- Status, as the lab’s stages
- Yes: Cases from impressions
- Yes: Cases from other scanners
- Yes: Messages, on the case
- Yes: The seat date, on the case
The first two points are the same job. The difference is in the ones below them.
Use them together
A shared case does not replace the scanner’s service. The scan still leaves the scanner that way.
What changes is where the case lives afterwards. The scan joins the Rx, the messages and both dates on one record.
On Tusko, scans from iTero arrive on their own. From any other scanner, upload the files onto the case.
What to ask a scanner’s maker
- Which statuses the service shows, and who sets each one
- Whether the lab and the practice can message each other inside it
- Whether it holds a due date, or the patient’s appointment
- Which file types can be exported
- Where the scans are stored
The last one is a privacy question. Canadian data residency for dental practices explains what to listen for.
Work out what you need
Count last month’s cases by where they started.
- Scans from each make of scanner
- Physical impressions
- Repairs, relines and other work with no scan
- Cases that changed after they were sent
If nearly everything came from one scanner to one lab, the portal may be all you need.
If the list has four lines with real numbers on each, you are already keeping a second system. Decide whether it should be a spreadsheet or a shared case.
See how a shared case works for labs and for practices.
For labs weighing their own software, read lab software with a doctor portal vs a shared case platform.
What does a scanner cloud portal do?
It carries a scan and its order form from the scanner to a lab, and lets the lab review or download the files. Each scanner maker runs its own, with its own statuses.
Does a scanner portal track the whole case?
It tracks the digital order for scans made on that maker’s scanners. Cases that started as a physical impression, or on another maker’s scanner, are not in it.
Do we still need the scanner portal with a shared case platform?
Yes. The scanner’s own service is how a scan leaves the scanner. A shared case holds the scan with the Rx, the messages and the dates for every case, whatever its source.
Why does a lab end up with several scanner inboxes?
Each maker’s service connects its own scanners to labs. A lab whose practices use three makes of scanner receives work through three services.
Sources
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