Seating accuracy of implant immediate provisional prostheses fabricated by digital workflow prior to implant placement by fully guided static computer-assisted implant surgery: An in vitro study

Abstract

Objectives: Evaluation of seating accuracy of implant immediate provisional prostheses fabricated prior to fully guided static computer-assisted implant surgery (sCAIS). Materials and Methods: Two maxillary training models were used to plan for single anterior (S-Ant) and single posterior (S-Post) implant prostheses, and a bridge (B) spanning from an anterior implant (B-Ant) to a posterior implant (B-Post). A commercial software was used to plan the implant location, design the surgical guides and design the provisional prostheses. The master models with the provisional prostheses were scanned to generate virtual master models. For each maxillary model, a total of 10 guides and 10 surgical models were produced. Following implant placements in each surgical model, the provisional prostheses were attached to the implants and were scanned to produce virtual surgical models. The virtual master and surgical models were superimposed to measure the vertical error, the proximal contact error and the proximal contact quality. Results: The vertical error was greatest for the S-Post (0.41 mm), followed by B-Post (0.29 mm), B-Ant (0.26 mm) and S-Ant (0.21 mm). There was no significant difference in vertical errors among the prostheses. For the proximal contact, the S-Ant had significantly greater error (0.45 mm - 0.46 mm) than S-Post (0.15 mm) and B (0.09 mm - 0.15 mm). A similar pattern was observed for proximal contact quality. Conclusions: All prostheses were associated with errors vertically and at the proximal contacts. Therefore, the clinicians who plan to use this workflow should be prepared to adjust the prosthesis after implant insertion.