Feasibility and Accuracy of Digitizing Edentulous Maxillectomy Defects: A Comparative Study

Area of Science:

• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Dental Technology
• Digital Dentistry

Background:

• Maxillectomy defects present challenges in prosthetic rehabilitation.
• Accurate digital models are crucial for designing custom obturators and prostheses.
• Traditional impression techniques can be cumbersome for large defects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of using intraoral scanners for edentulous maxillectomy defects.
• To evaluate the accuracy of digital impressions from intraoral scanners compared to conventional methods.
• To determine the reliability of chairside intraoral scanners in capturing complex defect morphology.

Main Methods:

• Digitization of 20 maxillectomy models with varying defect types using cone beam computed tomography.
• Acquisition of conventional and digital impressions using silicone materials and laboratory/chairside optical scanners.
• Analysis of 3D datasets using specialized evaluation software to compare accuracy.

Main Results:

• No significant interaction was found between defect types and impression methods.
• A statistically significant difference in accuracy was observed between the different impression methods (P = .0374).
• Chairside intraoral scanners demonstrated comparable accuracy to other digital methods.

Conclusions:

• Chairside intraoral scanning is a feasible technique for digitizing edentulous maxillectomy defects.
• The accuracy of intraoral scanners supports their use in clinical settings for defect digitization.
• This technology offers a promising advancement for prosthetic reconstruction after maxillectomy.