BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the precision of correlation between intraoral scanners and computer aided design (CAD) software programs used during scanning and designing phases of digital dentistry. In the present study, CAD software programs that accept data in Standard Tessellation Language (STL) and proprietary format have been evaluated and data loss has been examined in the scanned data.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A single unit crown preparation was conducted for maxillary right first molar on a fully dentulous model. The prepared tooth was scanned with a high precision industrial scanner (ATOS Core 80) and the reference digital model was obtained. The dental model was further scanned 10 times using 3 different intraoral scanners (CEREC Omnicam AC, TRIOS 3 Color Pod, and Aadva IOS 100). The data obtained from the reference scanner and intraoral scanners were transferred to different CAD programs (CEREC inLab, TRIOS Design Studio, Exocad) and digital crowns were designed for each scanned data-CAD combination. After that, the data losses that occurred between these transfers were evaluated by superimposition technique in a special software (VR Mesh v7.5) (α=0.05).

RESULTS: Among the all combinations of scanner and software, Omnicam AC-InLab was determined to be the most precise combination through the full digital workflow since the Omnicam AC-Exocad combination showed the highest deviations.

CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of this in vitro study, it was determined that the combinations of scanners and associated CAD programs yielded more accurate results, and data loss was revealed when the scanned data converted from the proprietary format to the STL format.

Keywords: Analog-Digital Conversion, Computer-Aided Design, Dental Clinics, Ceramics, Crowns, Dental Prosthesis Design, Dentistry, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, Models, Dental, Software