A Comparative Study of the Validity and Reproducibility of Mesiodistal Tooth Size and Dental Arch with iTeroTM Intraoral Scanner and the Traditional Method

Abstract

Introduction: The introduction of intraoral scanning offers an alternative for measuring mesiodistal tooth sizes. Objectives: To evaluate the validity and reproducibility of dental measurements per - formed on 3D digital study models using an intraoral scanner and compare them with measurements obtained using the traditional method. Materials and methods: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee. The sample comprised 60 patients selected applying the following inclusion criteria: teeth erupted from first molar to first molar, no disorders in the number or shape, and no prosthetic restora - tions. A digital impression was taken of each patient using an intraoral scanner and plaster study models were fabricated from alginate impressions. The dental arches were measured using the two methods. OrthoCad TM computer software was used to measure the digital models, whereas a digital Vernier caliper was used to measure the physical models. Results: Reproducibility of the 3D digital models obtained with the intraoral scanner was good. The validity of the digital measurements was excellent. Conclusions: The measurement of mesiodistal tooth sizes using the scanner is an excel - lent alternative to traditional methods. But statistically significant differences may occur in dental arch dimensions, as the intraoral scanning method tends to overestimate mea - surements compared with the traditional method.