comparing the accuracy of dental measurements – digital vs manual: an in-vivo study

Aim: the purpose of this in-vivo study is to determine and compare the accuracy of dental measurements calculated on physical and digital models with the measurements taken directly from the patients’ mouth.methods: this study was performed on 40 subjects. forty maxillary impressions were produced using a condensation silicone putty material and constructed into a physical model. a digital vernier caliper was utilized to take direct measurements from the patients’ mouth as well as from the physical models. cs 3600® was employed for direct intra-oral scanning for the subjects’ dentition and generating the digital model. three-dimensional reverse engineering software was used to make measurements on the digital model. one-way anova test was used to determine the accuracy between the control group, physical models, and virtual group. tukey’s post-hoc analysis was done to compare between the individual group.results: there were no statistically significant differences between the physical (p-value=0.254) and virtual models (p-value = 0.168) as compared to those measurements taken directly from the mouth.conclusion: the results of the current study demonstrate that intraoral scans are clinically sound to be used in diagnosis and treatment planning in dentistry and provide a professional and well-grounded substitute to the use of conventional plaster models.