Accuracy of Intraoral Scanners for Recording the Denture Bearing Areas: A Systematic Review

Purpose To systematically review clinical and laboratory studies that investigated the accuracy of intraoral scanners in recording denture bearing areas. Materials and methods Electronic and manual searches were conducted to identify all the available clinical and laboratory studies reporting the accuracy of digital impressions for recording denture related soft tissues. After the application of predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, the final list of articles was reviewed to meet the objective of this study. Results The inclusion criteria were met by 18 studies out of which 8 were clinical and the rest were laboratory investigations. The eligible studies assessed the accuracy of intraoral scanners in recording both the denture supporting structures and the peripheral mobile tissues. The accuracy results were different among the various intraoral scanners. Likewise, the effect of several influencing factors, such as artificial markers, scanner head size, scanning strategy, and the operator's experience, were evaluated. Conclusion While the accuracy of intraoral scanners was comparable to the conventional techniques in recording bony structures with attached mucosa, they were not capable of accurately registering the mobile tissues. In addition, factors such as presence of a marker, larger scanner head size and specific scanning techniques appeared to improve the accuracy of the digital impression.

Automated summary

This study systematically reviewed clinical and laboratory studies on the accuracy of intraoral scanners in recording denture bearing areas. The results showed that while intraoral scanners were comparable to conventional techniques in recording bony structures, they had limitations in accurately registering mobile tissues. Factors such as presence of a marker, larger scanner head size, and specific scanning techniques appeared to improve the accuracy of digital impressions.