Dimensional Accuracy of Digitalized Stone Models Obtained from Alginic Acid Polymer and Poly-dimethyl-siloxane Impressions

Abstract

The prognosis of the prosthetic rehabilitation is linked to the proper transfer of the clinical data to the dental laboratory, in the digital or conventional workflow. The aim of the present study was to compare the dimensional accuracy of analog and digitalized models, focusing on the influence of impression polymeric materials on the final digital model. Methods: The master model with standard reference points and the three groups of test models, obtained by alginic acid polymer impression (group A) and condensation-cured poly(dimethyl siloxane) in two impression techniques (1-step putty/light-body-group 1T, 2-steps putty/ light-body-group 2T), were measured in four standardized points before and after digitization. The differences from the master model and between the pair analog and digital models was calculated and statistically analysed using Mann-Whitney tests (2 groups), and one-way Anova (3 groups) with post-hoc Tukey s Test was applied for pairwise analysis (a;=0.05). Results: All analog and digitalized model tests showed altered dimensions from the master model. A general reduction of the digitalized models, in sagittal and transversal dimensions, was observed, comparing to the reference model. The impression material was a significant factor influencing dimensional accuracy. Conclusions: a statistically significant difference was found between most of the models and the master model. However, through digitalization, some of the errors were compensated. The digital models from alginic acid polymer group (group A) registered the highest trueness, with no statistically significant difference (P]0.05) from the reference model.