Intraoral Digital Scans for Fabricating Tooth-Supported Prostheses Using a Custom Intraoral Scan Body.

Abstract

This article describes a technique to assistwith intraoraldigital scans forfabricating tooth-supportedprosthesesby using a customintraoralscan body when the extension of the scan or the clinical characteristics might compromise the reliability of the intraoral digital scan. A preliminary intraoral scan of the tooth preparations is used to design acustomintraoral scan body which is manufactured using polymethylmethacrylate and a 5-axis milling machine. A low-viscositypolyvinyl siloxane impression of the tooth preparations is obtained using the custom intraoral scan body. Subsequently, the custom intraoral scan body is digitized usingan intraoral scanner.A design softwareprogramis usedtoalignthe digitized customintraoral scan bodywiththepreliminaryintraoral scan to obtain the definitive virtual cast. This technique aims to reduce manual conventional laboratory procedures such as pouring dental impression or die trimming which might minimize inaccuracies on the virtual definitive cast.