Scan accuracy of wireless intraoral scanners while digitizing a combined scan body-healing abutment system

To investigate the accuracy (trueness and precision) of wireless and wired intraoral scanners (IOSs) when scanning an implant with the combined healing abutment-scan body (CHA-SB) system.

A partially edentulous mandibular model with a CHA-SB at the right first molar site was digitized with 2 wireless (NeoScan 2000 (NW) and TRIOS 4 wireless (T4 W)) and 2 wired (NeoScan 1000 (N) and TRIOS 4 wired (T4)) IOSs 44 times in total (n = 11). The reference scan file was generated by digitizing the same master model and CHA-SB with an industrial-grade optical scanner. All files were imported into a metrology-grade analysis software program to evaluate the surface (root mean square, RMS), linear, and angular deviations of the top part of the SB. The average deviation values defined the precision of the scans. The data were statistically analyzed (α = 0.05).

IOS type affected the surface and angular deviations and the precision (linear deviations on the x-axis) of the scans (p ≤ 0.043). T4 W had lower RMS than N and T4 (p ≤ 0.031). T4 had higher angular deviations than N on the XZ plane and had the lowest angular deviations on the YZ plane (p ≤ 0.011). T4 W scans had higher precision than N scans (p = 0.024).

Despite some differences in the trueness or precision of scans, tested IOSs mostly enabled similar scan accuracy. Regardless of the IOS, the implant scans had a tendency to tilt mesiobuccally, which can be considered clinically small.

Tested wireless intraoral scanners may be suitable alternatives to their wired counterparts while digitizing an implant with a combined healing abutment-scan body system in the posterior region. However, the crowns fabricated from tested scans might require buccal, mesial, and occlusal surface veneering and distal surface adjustments.