Avaliação da Exatidão e Reprodutibilidade dos Pontos de Contatos Reais por Meio de Software de Escaneamento

Abstract

Problem statement. With the evolution of digital systems for visualizing occlusal contact points, clinical studies need to be conducted to demonstrate the accuracy of these systems compared to conventional methods for occlusal adjustment purposes. Purpose. To evaluate the accuracy of an intraoral scanner software (TRIOS; Shape) to highlight the occlusal contact points compared to carbon paper for occlusal adjustment purposes, in the installation of implant-supported fixed complete dentures. Material and methods. We included 13 patients rehabilitated with complete-arch fixed prosthesis supported interim jaw. All participants underwent clinical and laboratory steps for the fabrication of the lower hybrid prosthesis with antagonist to the conventional complete denture. In the installation session, a single examiner installed the prostheses and evidenced the occlusal contact points through two methods: carbon paper (PC) and intraoral scanner software (SS). After the application of each method, in the PC group, an occlusal photograph of the lower prosthesis was obtained and in the SS group, a print of the software screen was obtained. Then, the two images obtained were randomized to determine the order of being inserted into Microsoft PowerPoint for blind evaluation. The independent variables of this study consisted of qualifying, through pre-defined scores, the distribution of occlusal contacts and amounts of real and virtual occlusal points. For such, a described analysis was used to evaluate the classification of the distribution of occlusal contacts between the methods (Groups PC and SS). In comparing the number of occlusal contact points within each method employed, the Kruskal Wallis test was used. In the evaluation between distribution classification and number of occlusal contact points, the sig difference test was used. For all tests, a significance of p<0.05 was assumed. Results. Of the total number of cases evaluated, 69.2% of the cases evaluated by the PC and SS methods presented clinically excellent distribution of contact points on the prosthesis teeth. The PC group (mean: 15.85) presented a greater amount of marking of occlusal contact points compared to the SS group (mean: 12.46) (p=0.027). There was no relationship between distribution classification and number of occlusal contact points in the PC (p=0.683) and SS (p=0.168) method. Conclusion. The marking of occlusal contact points with carbon paper proved to be more accurate as it showed a greater number of contact points than the digital method tested, being, therefore, more suitable for monitoring an occlusal adjustment procedure. However, for occlusion assessment purposes, the digital method tested proved to be effective.