Effect of coded healing abutment height and position on the trueness of digital intraoral implant scans

Abstract

Statement of problemInformation regarding the effect of the height and position of a coded healing abutment (CHA) on the trueness of intraoral digital scans is lacking. PurposeThe purpose of this in vitro study was to investigate the effect of the height and position of a scannable CHA on the trueness (distance and angular deviations) of intraoral digital scans. Material and methodsScannable CHAs (BellaTek Encode Impression system; Zimmer Biomet Dental) were used in 2 different height pairs (3 mm and 8 mm) on 2 implants at mandibular left second and first molar positions. Each pair was scanned 10 times by using 1 intraoral scanner (TRIOS; 3Shape) by 1 operator to generate a total of 20 intraoral scan files. Master standard tessellation language (STL) files were created for both 3-mm and 8-mm CHA pairs by using a structured blue light scanner (COMET L3D 8M 150 Precision Structured Blue Light Scanner; ZEISS). These master STL files were imported into a software program (PolyWorks Inspector) and were used as the reference for the inspection. Scans obtained by using the intraoral scanner were aligned to the reference scan by using a best-fit alignment to measure the distance and angular deviations. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA was used to analyze the data, and the Tukey-Kramer test was used to determine significant differences among groups (α=.05). ResultsThe CHA position had a significant effect on distance deviation (P<.001). However, no significant effect of CHA height on distance deviation was found. The interaction between CHA height and position had a significant effect on the angular deviation (P=.041). The 3-mm posterior CHA (P=.026) and 8-mm anterior CHA (P=.039) had significantly lower angular deviations than the 8-mm posterior CHA. ConclusionsThe distance deviation of CHA was significantly influenced by position. CHAs in the anterior had lower distance deviations for both 3 mm and 8 mm. The effect of CHA height on distance deviation was found to be small and was affected by the location of the CHA. Height affected angular deviation depending on the position of the CHA. Both 3-mm posterior and 8-mm anterior CHAs showed lower angular deviations than the 8-mm posterior CHA.