Designing a novel dental root analogue implant using cone beam computed tomography and CAD/CAM technology

Abstract

Objectives: The study aim is to introduce a novel preemptively constructed dental root analogue implant (RAI) based on three-dimensional (3D) root surface models obtained from a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan, computer aided designing and computer aided manufacturing technology. Materials & Methods: One partially edentulous mandibular human cadaver was scanned with the Accuitomo 170 CBCT system. The scan volumes and datasets were used to create 3D surface models of the tooth. A 3D surface mesh of the tooth was stored as a standard triangulation language (STL) file. A high-end selective laser melting technology was used to fabricate the RAI from the STL file. The RAI was produced in a biocompatible titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V). Optical scanning technology was used to measure the RAI, as well as the natural tooth that was extracted. To validate the accuracy of the CBCT 3D root surface and the manufactured Titanium RAI, both surfaces were superimposed on the optical scan of the tooth, which served as the gold "reference" standard. Results: The differences between the RAI and the optical scan of the original tooth are most noticeable at the level of the apex and the cementenamel junction areas on the buccal and lingual side (divergence of more than 0.15 mm). Surface area measurements show an overall decrease in surface area of 6.33% for the RAI in comparison with the original tooth and an increase of 0.27% when comparing the 3D surface model with optical scan of the original tooth. Conclusion: With the use of currently available technology it is very well feasible to preemptively create a custom RAI in titanium. However, clinical evidence evaluating the success of this novel dental implant approach is needed. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.