Stereophotogrammetry for Recording the Position of Multiple Implants: Technical Description

Dental implants are one of the most widely used treatments for the rehabilitation of partially or completely edentulous areas. Achieving proper passive adjustment of the implant-supported prosthesis improves its long-term prognosis. This article discusses a new technique for digitally printing prostheses supported by multiple implants with optimum passive fit. The technique is based on a stereophotogrammetry system that captures the exact location of prosthetic implant platforms. This photogrammetry device takes 10 pictures per second with an error margin of less than 10 μm between two scanbodies and identifies the spatial position of each implant without physical contact. Three-dimensional data for each implant are registered in vector format, together with interrelated implant angles and distances. The information is then stored in an STL file.