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

This study seeks to assess the accuracy of apical location using an augmented reality (AR) device with a free-hand method. Sixty (60) osteotomy site preparations were randomly assigned to one of two study groups: A. AR device (AR) (n = 30), and B. conventional free-hand method (FHM) (n = 30). Preoperative CBCT scans and intraoral scans were taken and uploaded to specialized implant-planning software to virtually plan preparations for the apical location osteotomy sites. The planning software was then used to automatically segment the teeth in each experimental model for their complete visualization using the AR device. A CBCT scan was carried out postoperatively after conducting the apical location procedures. The subsequent datasets were imported into therapeutic software to analyze the coronal, apical, and angular deviations. The Mann-Whitney non-parametric test was used. There were no statistically significant differences identified at the coronal (p = 0.1335), apical (p = 0.2401), and angular deviations (p = 0.4849) between the AR and FHM study groups. The augmented reality technique did not show a statistically significant accuracy of osteotomies for apical location when compared with the conventional free-hand method.