Accuracy Improvement of Intraoral Scanning and Buccal Bite Registration Using Healing Abutment as Landmarks: An In Vitro Study

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the influence of the healing abutment (HA), placed at the implant placement site, on the accuracy of intraoral scanning and buccal bite registration in quadrant maxillary and mandibular models when using three types of intraoral scanner (IOS) and elucidate the distribution of arch distortion. Six experimental groups based on whether the HA was connected and the location of missing teeth were digitized using one laboratory scanner (Identica T500) and three IOSs (Trios 3, CS3600, and i500). Three-way ANOVA was used to analyze the effects of the scanner, location and number of missing teeth, and HA using Tukey investigation analyses for multiple comparisons (α = 0.05). Linear distances between hemispheres from the upper and lower arches were analyzed using the Jonckheere–Terpstra trend test to investigate the tendency of distortion from anterior to posterior tooth positions (α = 0.05). The accuracy of IOSs in groups with HAs was found significantly more accurate than groups without HAs. There was a significant trend in distortion from anterior to posterior tooth positions when using the Trios 3 and i500 IOSs. The scanning accuracy was affected by the presence of an HA, and the distortion along with the arch span may vary with the IOS utilized.