Soft tissue replication in single unit implant impressions-A three dimensional clinical study.

Area of Science:

• Dental Implantology
• Digital Dentistry
• Prosthodontics

Background:

• Accurate soft tissue replication is crucial for esthetic single-unit implant rehabilitation.
• Conventional silicone impressions and digital intraoral scanners are common methods for capturing implant site data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the trueness of soft tissue replication between conventional and digital impression techniques for single-unit implant restorations in the esthetic zone.

Main Methods:

• A crossover pilot study involving six patients undergoing single-unit implant rehabilitation.
• Conventional silicone impressions and digital impressions using an intraoral scanner were taken.
• Stereolithography files were superimposed to evaluate trueness at hard and soft tissue locations and the emergence profile.

Main Results:

• Trueness was 51.08 μm for hard tissues and 60.46 μm for soft tissues.
• Intraoral scanner acquisition showed a statistically significant root mean square (RMS) of 243.89 μm for soft tissue replication, indicating a large effect size.

Conclusions:

• Intraoral scanner techniques produce statistically significant changes in peri-implant soft tissue replication compared to conventional methods.
• These digital impression techniques offer higher sensitivity for assessing peri-implant tissue changes than visual methods, proving valuable for clinical studies.