Additively manufactured scan body for transferring a virtual 3-dimensional representation to a digital articulator for completely edentulous patients

Additively Manufactured Scan Bodies for Virtual Patient Integration: Different Designs, Manufacturing Procedures, and Clinical Protocols

“…Previous authors have reported different techniques to align patient's digital file information; 23–28 furthermore, the employment of auxiliary devices such as extraoral and intraoral scan bodies have been described to guide the superimposition procedures 29 . Additively manufactured intraoral scan bodies have been developed for virtual patient's data integration providing patients size customization and chairside manufacturing capabilities 6,30–32 . The intraoral scan body is used as a common element to align intraoral and facial digital scans 6,30–32 .…”

“…The computer‐aided design (CAD) of the intraoral scan body can be modified using a CAD software program to customize the dental device dimensions to a patient's arch and facilitate the intraoral procedures in the patient's mouth (Fig 1). Furthermore, there are different intraoral scan body designs based on the patient's clinical condition namely dentate and completely edentulous arches 6,30–32 . Each intraoral scan body design aims to ease the clinical data collection techniques 6,30–32 .…”

“…When the prosthodontic treatment does not require CBCT images, the objective for the 3D virtual patient representation is the alignment of the patient's digital files, which includes facial scans, with the patient at different positions, and intraoral digital scans 6 . After data acquisition techniques, the virtual patient integration is achieved by aligning the files using a CAD software program 6,23–33 . Additively manufactured intraoral scan bodies have been developed to guide the acquisition and alignment of the patient's digital information.…”

“…60,61 As an example, the AM intraoral scan body is the common element between the reference facial scan and the digitized intraoral scan body or the occlusal surfaces of the maxillary teeth between the maxillary intraoral digital scan and the digitized intraoral scan body. 6,[30][31][32][33] With the alignment of the patient's digital files, the 3D virtual patient representation is obtained.…”

“…6,[30][31][32] The intraoral scan body is used as a common element to align intraoral and facial digital scans. 6,[30][31][32] Dental literature analyzing the accuracy of virtual patient's integration is scarce. 33 Revilla-León et al 33 evaluated, in a clinical study, the accuracy of the virtual patient integration obtained by the superimposition of facial and intraoral digital scans guided by 2 scan body systems compared with CBCT imaging.…”