Comparative analysis of different implant impression techniques: An In vitro study

Introduction: Dental implants have emerged as the treatment of choice for restoring missing teeth in situations that require functional and aesthetic replacements. The aim of the study was to assess the dimensional accuracy of (1) the resultant casts made from different impression techniques for implants, (2) implant impressions using two types of splinting material for open tray technique, auto-polymerising acrylic resin and light-cure acrylic resin and impression techniques, including non-sectioning and sectioning and rejoining with the same splinting material. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted to compare the accuracy of direct splinted implant impression techniques. There were four impression techniques selected: (1) direct impression technique with autopolymerising acrylic resin splint, (2) direct impression technique with autopolymerising acrylic resin splint sectioned 17 min after setting and welded with the same resin, (3) direct impression technique with light-cure acrylic resin splint and (4) direct impression technique with light-cure acrylic resin splint sectioned and welded with the same resin. Results: Comparison within the four impression groups with respect to distances X and Y with a master model by Tukey's post-hoc procedures shows a statistically significant difference only for Group 1, showing P < 0.05. Conclusion: There is a significant difference in the accuracy of the direct splinted implant impression technique with auto-polymerising acrylic resin without sectioning. Sectioning the auto-polymerising acrylic resin splint after 17 min and rejoining before impression making markedly increase the accuracy of implant impression. Splinting with light-cure acrylic resin shows a more accurate impression than the splint with auto-polymerising acrylic resin.