Is Augmented Reality Technology Effective in Locating the Apex of Teeth Undergoing Apicoectomy Procedures?

Area of Science:

• Dental implantology
• Surgical navigation technologies
• Medical imaging analysis

Background:

• Accurate apical location is crucial for successful dental implant placement.
• Conventional free-hand methods (FHM) for osteotomy preparation carry risks of deviation.
• Emerging technologies like augmented reality (AR) offer potential for enhanced surgical precision.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the accuracy of apical location osteotomies using an AR device versus the conventional free-hand method.
• To evaluate coronal, apical, and angular deviations between the two techniques.
• To determine if AR provides a statistically significant accuracy improvement in this context.

Main Methods:

• Sixty osteotomy preparations were divided into AR (n=30) and FHM (n=30) groups.
• Preoperative CBCT and intraoral scans were used for virtual planning and AR visualization.
• Postoperative CBCT scans analyzed coronal, apical, and angular deviations using specialized software.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences were found in coronal deviation (p=0.1335).
• No statistically significant differences were found in apical deviation (p=0.2401).
• No statistically significant differences were found in angular deviation (p=0.4849).

Conclusions:

• The augmented reality technique did not demonstrate statistically significant improvement in osteotomy accuracy for apical location compared to the conventional free-hand method.
• Further research may be needed to optimize AR systems for dental surgical applications.
• Current AR technology does not offer a significant accuracy advantage over traditional methods for this specific procedure.