Repeatability of four intraoral scanners in various dental crowding cases in vitro

Abstract

 The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of crowding of the teeth on the repeatability of optical impressions. Three plaster models with different amounts of crowding (model 1 : mild crowding, model 2 : moderate crowding, model 3 : severe crowding) were used in this study. Four different types of intraoral scanners (True definition scanner [T-Def], TRIOS pod [TRI], TRIOS3 [TRI3], and iTero element 5D [ITE]) were used to obtain full-arch impressions of the three models. The scans were repeated five times for each model, and the repeatability was measured and compared.

 With TRI, model 2 and 3 showed significant higher repeatability than model 1. TRI3 and ITE showed the highest repeatability in model 3. In the comparison between scanners by model, in model 1, TRI3 showed higher repeatability than TRI, and ITE showed higher repeatability than T-Def and TRI. TRI, TRI3, and ITE showed higher repeatability than T-Def in model 3. The results suggested that the amount of dental crowding affects the repeatability of intraoral scanners.