An Alternative Digital Workflow for 3D Virtual Patient Construction Integrating Intraoral, Facial, and CBCT Data for Esthetic and Occlusal Planning.

BACKGROUND

Virtual patient construction integrates dental, facial, and skeletal datasets into a unified 3D model for prosthodontic diagnosis and planning. Despite advances, fully digital workflows remain limited by challenges in reproducibility and clinical validation.

OBJECTIVE

To describe an alternative digital workflow for 3D virtual patient construction integrating intraoral, facial, and CBCT data, and to demonstrate its clinical applicability through direct intraoral mock-up validation.

METHODS

A patient with esthetic concerns and mild functional asymmetry was documented using full-arch intraoral scans, facial scans, and CBCT. Craniofacial reference planes guided multimodal alignment using an Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm with predefined parameters. The integrated datasets were analyzed in a virtual articulator to simulate mandibular movements. A 3D-printed model and silicone index enabled intraoral mock-up validation.

RESULTS

The workflow achieved consistent multimodal alignment of hard- and soft-tissue structures, eliminating the need for analog facebow transfer or mechanical mounting. The intraoral mock-up reproduced the virtual design, confirming the clinical transferability of esthetic and functional parameters.

CONCLUSIONS

This workflow integrates virtual planning with clinical validation, thereby improving diagnostic precision, esthetic predictability, and interdisciplinary communication in prosthodontic rehabilitation.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This approach provides a reproducible option for virtual patient construction, enabling immediate chairside validation and supporting more predictable clinical decision-making in esthetic and occlusal rehabilitation.