An In Vivo Comparison of Trueness and Precision of a Novel Method to Improve Edentulous Intra-Oral Digital Scanner Accuracy with Full Arch Implant Scan Body Capture

Abstract

Abstract Background The purpose of this in vivo study is to evaluate the full arch scan accuracy (precision and trueness) of two digital intra-oral scanners when using two variants of a novel method in an edentulous full arch implant case. Previous studies have compared the accuracy of intra-oral scanners, which have proven to be adequately accurate in dentate arches but are less accurate in edentulous arches which is critical in importance within the field of dental implant restorations where passivity is required; Methods The present in vivo study compared two different intraoral scanners (Primescan and i700 ) to investigate the accuracy of each scanner both with and without the novel method of using two variants of the Scan Ladder system by examining the overall trueness and precision compared to a verified lab scan of a traditional impression cast as the master STL. A comparison was made with the master STL using a direct implant position analysis using a positional change calculator. The results were recorded and the data compared using SPSS statistical software; Results In the present study, the overall trueness was significantly more accurate with each scanner using the novel method with either variant. Conclusions This study confirms that intra-oral digital scanners cannot capture a reliable, reproducible full arch implant scan in edentulous patients without a scanning aid such as the Scan Ladder. The study also confirms that the novel method provides increased levels of accuracy to each scanner used.