The Effect of Height of Scan Body on the Accuracy and Duration of Digital Scanning Publisher

Summary: Can the height of scan bodies affect digital implant impressions? Research suggests using higher scan bodies reduces deviation, especially near adjacent teeth. #DentalResearch #Implantology

Jannati P ; Younespour S ; Alikhasi M
Source: Brazilian Journal of Oral Sciences Published:2025

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the height of scan body on the accuracy and scan time of making a digital implant impression in three implant positions. Methods: Three maxillary reference models with partial dentition (missing teeth#1,2,3,4, and 14) were prepared for placing implants. Implants were placed in position of tooth#2 (named distant implant [Dis]), tooth#4 (named adjacent implant [Adj]), and #14 (named single implant [Sin]). Depth of insertion of implants and height of scan bodies were selected in a way that scan part of scan body stayed on heights of higher (Hi), lower (Lo), and equal (Eq) relative to the occlusal plane. The models were scanned with intraoral scanner (Omnicam) (22 scans for each model), and with desktop scanner (inEos X5) (one scan as reference scan). The scans were superimposed on the reference scan and deviations of each implant (single, adjacent to edentulous area, and distant in edentulous area) and scanning time of each group were measured (α=.05). Results: In contrast to adjacent implant position, deviations in Equal (p< 0.03) and Lower (p<0.001) groups were significantly more than Higher in mean distance deviation in single implant position. Findings were similar in terms of different heights in the distant implant position. The three dimensional angular deviation comparison demonstrated that Sin-Eq group had greater deviation (p<0.0001). Kruskal Wallis test showed that there was a significant difference among the groups (p= 0.001) and the least scanning time was in the Lower height group. Conclusion: The scan body higher than the occlusal plane is a safer option when there is an adjacent tooth. When there is space around the scan body there would be less rotational deviations. Copyright (c) 2025 Pooya Jannati, Shima Younespour, Marzieh Alikhasi. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.