STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: A new approach to both 3-dimensional (3D) trueness and precision is necessary to assess the accuracy of intraoral digital impressions and compare them to conventionally acquired impressions. PURPOSE: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate whether a new reference scanner is capable of measuring conventional and digital intraoral complete-arch impressions for 3D accuracy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A steel reference dentate model was fabricated and measured with a reference scanner (digital reference model). Conventional impressions were made from the reference model, poured with Type IV dental stone, scanned with the reference scanner, and exported as digital models. Additionally, digital impressions of the reference model were made and the digital models were exported. Precision was measured by superimposing the digital models within each group. Superimposing the digital models on the digital reference model assessed the trueness of each impression method. Statistical significance was assessed with an independent sample t test (α=.05). RESULTS: The reference scanner delivered high accuracy over the entire dental arch with a precision of 1.6 ±0.6 µm and a trueness of 5.3 ±1.1 µm. Conventional impressions showed significantly higher precision (12.5 ±2.5 µm) and trueness values (20.4 ±2.2 µm) with small deviations in the second molar region (P<.001). Digital impressions were significantly less accurate with a precision of 32.4 ±9.6 µm and a trueness of 58.6 ±15.8µm (P<.001). More systematic deviations of the digital models were visible across the entire dental arch. CONCLUSIONS: The new reference scanner is capable of measuring the precision and trueness of both digital and conventional complete-arch impressions. The digital impression is less accurate and shows a different pattern of deviation than the conventional impression.

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Accuracy of complete-arch dental impressions: a new method of measuring trueness and precision.

Answer questions and earn CME/CNE Oral complications resulting from cancer and cancer therapies cause acute and late toxicities that may be underreported, underrecognized, and undertreated. Recent advances in cancer treatment have led to changes in the incidence, nature, and severity of oral complications. As the number of survivors increases, it is becoming increasingly recognized that the aggressive management of oral toxicities is needed to ensure optimal long-term oral health and general well-being. Advances in care have had an impact on previously recognized oral complications and are leading to newly recognized adverse effects. Here, the authors briefly review advances in cancer therapy, including recent advances in surgery, oral care, radiation therapy, hematopoietic cell transplantation, and medical oncology; describe how these advances affect oral health; and discuss the frequent and/or severe oral health complications associated with cancer and cancer treatment and their effect upon long-term health. Although some of the acute oral toxicities of cancer therapies may be reduced, they remain essentially unavoidable. The significant impact of long-term complications requires increased awareness and recognition to promote prevention and appropriate intervention. It is therefore important for the primary oncologist to be aware of these complications so that appropriate measures can be implemented in a timely manner. Prevention and management is best provided via multidisciplinary health care teams, which must be integrated and communicate effectively in order to provide the best patient care in a coordinated manner at the appropriate time.

Oral complications of cancer and cancer therapy: from cancer treatment to survivorship.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the 5-year survival rates and incidences of complications of cemented and screw-retained implant reconstructions. METHODS: An electronic Medline search complemented by manual searching was conducted to identify randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs), and prospective and retrospective studies giving information on cemented and screw-retained single-unit and multiple-unit implant reconstructions with a mean follow-up time of at least 1 year. Assessment of the identified studies and data abstraction were performed independently by three reviewers. Failure rates were analyzed using Poisson regression models to obtain summary estimates and 95% confidence intervals of failure rates and 5-year survival proportions. RESULTS: Fifty-nine clinical studies were selected from an initial yield of 4511 titles and the data were extracted. For cemented single crowns the estimated 5-year reconstruction survival was 96.5% (95% confidence interval (CI): 94.8-97.7%), for screw-retained single crowns it was 89.3% (95% CI: 64.9-97.1%) (P = 0.091 for difference). The 5-year survival for cemented partial fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) was 96.9% (95% CI: 90.8-99%), similar to the one for screw-retained partial FDPs with 98% (95% CI: 96.2-99%) (P = 0.47). For cemented full-arch FDPs the 5-year survival was 100% (95% CI: 88.9-100%), which was somewhat higher than that for screw-retained FDPs with 95.8% (95% CI: 91.9-97.9%) (P = 0.54). The estimated 5-year cumulative incidence of technical complications at cemented single crowns was 11.9% and 24.4% at screw-retained crowns. At the partial and full-arch FDPs, in contrast, a trend to less complication at the screw-retained was found than at the cemented ones (partial FDPs cemented 24.5%, screw-retained 22.1%; full-arch FDPs cemented 62.9%, screw-retained 54.1%). Biological complications like marginal bone loss >2 mm occurred more frequently at cemented crowns (5-year incidence: 2.8%) than at screw-retained ones (5-year incidence: 0%). CONCLUSION: Both types of reconstructions influenced the clinical outcomes in different ways, none of the fixation methods was clearly advantageous over the other. Cemented reconstructions exhibited more serious biological complications (implant loss, bone loss >2 mm), screw-retained reconstructions exhibited more technical problems. Screw-retained reconstructions are more easily retrievable than cemented reconstructions and, therefore, technical and eventually biological complications can be treated more easily. For this reason and for their apparently higher biological compatibility, these reconstructions seem to be preferable.

Cemented and screw‐retained implant reconstructions: a systematic review of the survival and complication rates

Statement of problem Digital impression systems have undergone significant development in recent years, but few studies have investigated the accuracy of the technique in vivo, particularly compared with conventional impression techniques. Purpose The purpose of this in vivo study was to investigate the precision of conventional and digital methods for complete-arch impressions. Material and methods Complete-arch impressions were obtained using 5 conventional (polyether, POE; vinylsiloxanether, VSE; direct scannable vinylsiloxanether, VSES; digitized scannable vinylsiloxanether, VSES-D; and irreversible hydrocolloid, ALG) and 7 digital (CEREC Bluecam, CER; CEREC Omnicam, OC; Cadent iTero, ITE; Lava COS, LAV; Lava True Definition Scanner, T-Def; 3Shape Trios, TRI; and 3Shape Trios Color, TRC) techniques. Impressions were made 3 times each in 5 participants (N=15). The impressions were then compared within and between the test groups. The cast surfaces were measured point-to-point using the signed nearest neighbor method. Precision was calculated from the (90%-10%)/2 percentile value. Results The precision ranged from 12.3 μm (VSE) to 167.2 μm (ALG), with the highest precision in the VSE and VSES groups. The deviation pattern varied distinctly according to the impression method. Conventional impressions showed the highest accuracy across the complete dental arch in all groups, except for the ALG group. Conclusions Conventional and digital impression methods differ significantly in the complete-arch accuracy. Digital impression systems had higher local deviations within the complete arch cast; however, they achieve equal and higher precision than some conventional impression materials.

https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/118276/1/32_Ender_Complete_arch_JProsthetDent_2015.pdf

In vivo precision of conventional and digital methods of obtaining complete-arch dental impressions.

Background
The purpose of this study was to compare two impression techniques from the perspective of patient preferences and treatment comfort.

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Comparison of digital and conventional impression techniques: evaluation of patients’ perception, treatment comfort, effectiveness and clinical outcomes

Oral complications are the most frequent and debilitating sequelae of radiation treatment for patients with head and neck cancer. Impaired salivary function and consequent xerostomia can persist for years after radiation treatment, significantly increasing the risk of oral and dental disease and negatively affecting patients' quality of life. Current evidence indicates that many patients undergoing radiation treatment do not receive adequate oral and dental care and follow-up and that patients' compliance with oral care recommendations is frequently poor. Topical lubricants, coating agents,and saliva substitutes or lozenges may provide transient relief from xerostomia. Cholinergic stimulants such as pilocarpine improve salivary flow but have had mixed results in improving patients' assessments of symptoms or other quality-of-life measures. Advances in radiotherapy techniques, such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy, have enabled increased delivery of therapeutic doses of radiation to tumors while limiting exposure to normal tissues, thereby reducing the incidence, duration, and severity of xerostomia in some patients with head and neck cancers. Additionally, radioprotective agents such as amifostine have been shown to reduce radiation-induced toxicity to normal tissues within the radiation field. Studies are ongoing to determine the optimal approaches for these techniques and agents to maximize clinical response while improving the overall quality of life for patients with head and neck cancer.

The role of saliva in oral health: strategies for prevention and management of xerostomia.

Statement of Problem. Several studies have attempted to determine the ideal combination of dental materials and laboratory techniques to produce the most accurate dental cast. Most have made use of 2-dimensional manual measuring devices, which neglect to account for the dimensional changes that exist along a 3-dimensional surface. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of impression tray selection and cast formation techniques on the dimensional change of a dental cast with the use of new, 3-dimensional optical digitizing technology. Material and Methods. Multiple impressions of a machined steel die that resembled a dental arch were made with custom and stock impression trays and vinyl polysiloxane impression material. The impressions were poured in type V artificial dental stone and allowed to set with the tray inverted or noninverted. The steel master die and stone casts were digitized with the Steinbichler Comet 100 Optical Digitizer, which was developed at the Minnesota Dental Research Center for Biomaterials and Biomechanics. Three-dimensional images of the stone casts were aligned to the 3-dimensional image of the master die and analyzed with AnSur-NT software. Multiple measurements of the master die and stone casts were analyzed to determine the accuracy of the 3-dimensional technology and of the impression and cast fabrication techniques. Planar distances between the center of each crown preparation were measured, as were crown heights. Data were analyzed with analysis of variance ( P Results. Casts were compared with a total of 45 significance tests, of which only 4 yielded P Conclusion. Results obtained with the use of new optical digitizing technology indicated that neither impression tray type nor cast formation technique affected the accuracy of final casts. (J Prosthet Dent 2002;87:204-9.)

Laser digitization of casts to determine the effect of tray selection and cast formation technique on accuracy.

The purpose of this study was to examine how patients perceived the professionalism of University of Minnesota School of Dentistry students, faculty, and staff. Professionalism is defined by the authors as an image that will promote a successful relationship with the patient. Patients within comprehensive care clinics were asked to assess physical attributes and behaviors of the dental care providers using a questionnaire. The patients read statements dealing with characteristics of the dental care providers and responded as to whether they agreed, were neutral, or disagreed with the statement. The surveyed population consisted of 103 males and 97 females, 64 percent of whom lacked insurance coverage. Fifty-one percent of the patients were between the ages of forty-four and sixty-nine, but the overall age distribution was dispersed over a range of eighteen to one hundred. Our research found that all dental care providers displayed a professional appearance as well as behavior. The attire of the dental care provider affected the comfort and anxiety levels of patients, as did first impressions of both students and faculty. Most patients reported that students and faculty displayed effective time management and used appropriate language during the appointment. Finally, hairstyle, makeup, and jewelry appeared to have little effect on patients' opinions of the various dental care providers.

Patient perceptions of professionalism in dentistry.

Statement of problem Numerous investigations have been done to determine the most accurate method to reproduce a dental arch. Investigations have used different definitive cast configurations, materials, and measuring techniques to evaluate dimensional change, leaving clinicians undecided as to the most accurate method to reproduce a dental arch. Purpose of study The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of impression tray selection on accuracy of reproductions of a dental arch using a 3-dimensional optical digitizer. Materials and methods Impressions were made of a stone cast of a dental arch using vinyl polysiloxane impression material in custom and stock impression trays (n=12). Custom trays, designed with full palatal coverage, were fabricated on a separate standard stone cast using 2 layers of pink baseplate wax as the spacer and tissue stops on 1 anterior tooth and both first molar teeth. Impressions were poured with type IV gypsum and allowed to set with the tray inverted (n=5) or not inverted (n=5). The standard cast and resulting casts were digitized using an optical digitizer. Custom software was used to align and process the 3-dimensional images created by the digitizer. Each image was superimposed onto the standard cast image, curves were created of the percent of points less than a defined distance between the 2 superimposed images, and the area under the curve was calculated. A weighted average area was calculated for each cast, and these values were analyzed using a 2-way ANOVA (α=.05). Results The main effect of tray type, laboratory setting technique, and the interaction between these 2 characteristics was analyzed. None of these effects was significant. Conclusion The differences in accuracy of reproductions of a dental arch, regardless of the impression and laboratory techniques, were not significant when evaluated using a 3-dimensional optical digitizer.

Evaluation of dental arch reproduction using three-dimensional optical digitization.

Statement of Problem. When implants are placed interforaminally in mandibular implant-supported screw-retained prostheses, the most anterior implant is usually positioned lingual to the incisors of the prosthesis. This creates an anterior cantilever with the entire prosthesis acting as a class I lever and possibly placing the anterior implant under alternating tension and compression during function. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to measure the anterior cantilever of randomly chosen patients with restored mandibular implant-supported fixed prostheses, and to establish the proportions of anterior to posterior cantilever lengths relative to the anteroposterior spread. Material and Methods. Thirteen edentulous patients were recruited from the University of Minnesota's dental implant program. Each patient had been restored with a maxillary complete denture and a mandibular implant-supported screw-retained prosthesis supported by 5 endosseous implants. Each patient had 1 mandibular impression made with irreversible hydrocolloid, which was poured in type III gypsum. A FaroArm precision 3D measuring stylus was used to make multiple-axis (X-Y-Z) measurements (mm) on the casts of the dental implants, of anteroposterior spread, and anterior and posterior cantilevers. Presence or absence of screw loosening was noted using a screwdriver with finger pressure. Data were analyzed using a 1-way analysis of variance to compare prostheses with loose screws to prostheses without loose screws, for each of 3 outcome measures: length of anterior cantilever, length of posterior cantilever, and anteroposterior spread ( P Results. Mandibular anterior cantilever lengths ranged from 5.5 to 14.4 mm with a mean of 8.78 mm. Combined posterior cantilever lengths ranged from 9.2 to 20.9 mm with a mean of 16.2 mm. Anteroposterior spread ranged from 5.2 to 12.3 mm with a mean of 7.9 mm. From a total of 65 retaining screws, 7 were found to be completely loose. No apparent correlation was found between length of mandibular anterior cantilever and screw loosening ( P =.45), although the ratio of posterior cantilever to anteroposterior spread (2:4) was significantly associated with screw loosening ( P =.006). Conclusion. Within the limitations of this study, anterior cantilevers in mandibular implant-supported screw-retained prostheses were frequent and appeared to depend on implant placement and prosthesis design. The ratio of anterior to posterior cantilever lengths was approximately 1:2. (J Prosthet Dent 2003;89:244-9.)

Mary Elizabeth Brosky

Papers

The role of saliva in oral health: strategies for prevention and management of xerostomia.

Laser digitization of casts to determine the effect of tray selection and cast formation technique on accuracy.

Patient perceptions of professionalism in dentistry.

Evaluation of dental arch reproduction using three-dimensional optical digitization.

The anterior cantilever in the implant-supported screw-retained mandibular prosthesis