Do intraoral scanning technologies affect the trueness of dental arches with crowding, diastema, and edentulous spaces? A clinical perspective.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the trueness of dental arches digitised by two intraoral scanning (IOS) technologies from patients presenting crowding, diastema, and bilateral posterior edentulous space with tilted molar.

METHODS

Conventional impressions and dental stone models were generated from three patients presenting the aforementioned dental arch conditions. These models were digitised on a desktop scanner, and the resulting mesh was used as reference. Subsequently, the patients were scanned using confocal based (CF; iTero Element 2) and blue laser-multiscan (BLM; Virtuo Vivo) imaging IOS technology, totalling thirty scans. The meshes from the scans were exported in Standard Tessellation Language format and analysed using Geomagic Control X software. Root mean square (RMS) indicated deviation magnitude. Differences in IOS technologies were evaluated with paired t-tests, and dental arch conditions compared using ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey tests (α=0.05).

RESULTS

Digital dental arch from blue laser-multiscan technology showed lower trueness compared to confocal based technology for crowding (p = 0.0084) and edentulous spaces (p = 0.0025) conditions. When the types of oral condition were compared, discrepancies were significantly different for both IOS technologies, featuring the arch with diastema showing the lowest trueness, followed by edentulous spaces and crowding.

CONCLUSION

Dental arches presenting crowding and edentulous spaces digitised by blue laser-multiscan technology exhibited greater discrepancies compared to confocal based imaging technology. Furthermore, trueness varied among the dental arch conditions.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The IOS technology and patient's dental arch condition can influence the trueness of dental arch digitisation. Being aware of these effects allows clinicians to take them into account during scanning procedures, digital planning and manufacturing.