An accurate and efficient method for occlusal tooth wear assessment using 3D digital dental models

Tooth or material wear in a dentition is a common finding that requires timely diagnosis for management and prevention of further loss or associated esthetic or functional impairment. Various qualitative and quantitative methods have been suggested to measure tooth or material wear, but they present with limitations, such as imprecision, subjectivity, or high complexity. Here we developed and assessed an efficient 3D superimposition method to accurately measure occlusal tooth wear on 3D digital dental models. For this purpose, teeth on plaster casts were manually grinded on their occlusal surfaces to simulate various degrees of tooth wear. The casts were scanned using a surface scanner. Grinded tooth crowns (T1) were segmented and compared to the original crowns (T0) using five 3D surface superimposition techniques and a gold standard technique (GS). GS measurements were obtained by using intact adjacent structures as superimposition references. The technique of choice (complete crown with 30% estimated overlap of meshes) showed the best reproducibility (maximum difference < 0.050 mm³) and excellent agreement with the GS technique (median difference: 0.032 mm³). The suggested 3D superimposition method offers a highly efficient and accurate tool for tooth wear assessment, which could be applicable to clinical conditions.