Digital techniques for anterior teeth form selection in complete edentulism

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare two computerized digital esthetic design methods (DSD and Visagismile) in order to properly choose the appropriate form of the maxillary frontal teeth for complete bimaxillary edentulous patients and to validate the use of these applications in complete edentulism. An online questionnaire was submitted to a group of 100 persons (dental doctors, dental medicine students and persons activating in other fields); the respective persons were requested to choose the form of maxillary frontal teeth for a group of four complete bimaxillary edentulous patients, whose esthetic design had been performed by using the two computerized progams. Following the respondents’ analysis of the esthetic previews elaborated for the four patients 60% of the total answers were in favour of DSD while the remaining 40% were in favour of Visagismile; these percentages are identical with the ones obtained on the basis of the answers given by dental doctors and dental medicine students. In case of the respondents activating in other fields the percentages were 66% in favour of DSD and 34% in favour of Visagismile. Based on the results of the study the two computerized methods were validated also for cases of complete edentulism but further studies to confirm this validation are still required. These two methods improve the dental doctor/patient communication and certainly provide a higher predictability of the esthetic results of prosthetic restorations not only for dentate patients but also in cases of complete edentulism.