Digital fabrication of polyetheretherketone retentive bar attachment inserts as overdenture maintenance: A dental technique

Text mining analysis of scientific literature on digital intraoral scanners in dentistry: Bibliometric analysis

Objective

This study aimed to provide valuable insights into the current research status and gaps in digital intraoral scanner literature in dentistry.

Methodology

Scopus Search Query TITLE-ABS-KEY (intraoral AND scanners AND (dentistry OR digital AND dentistry)). The search query used in Scopus for the bibliometric analysis was "TITLE-ABS-KEY (intraoral AND scanners AND (dentistry OR digital AND dentistry))." This query indicates that the analysis focused on documents in which the title, abstract, or keywords contained the terms "intraoral," "scanners," and either "dentistry" or "digital dentistry."

Results

The analysis covers a timespan from 1998 to 2023 and includes 331 documents sourced from 136 publications. The annual growth rate of research in this field is reported to be 15.9%, indicating a steady increase over time. Among the top sources, the "Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry" and the "Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry" have the highest number of articles, indicating their significance in the field. Some notable authors and their corresponding statistics include WÖSTMANN B, with 15 articles and a fractionalized value of 3.16, and SCHLENZ MA, with 14 articles and a fractionalized value of 2.91. The United States has the highest number of articles, indicating a significant presence in research publications. Germany closely follows this, demonstrating a notable contribution to the scientific community.

Conclusions

This bibliometric analysis of intraoral scanners used in dentistry provided valuable insights into the current state of research and scholarly publications in this field. This analysis sheds light on the trends, patterns, and advancements in the use of these scanners in dental practice.

Novel CAD-CAM fabrication of a custom-made ball attachment retentive housing: an in-vitro study

PURPOSE

This study aims to evaluate the digitally designed ball attachment housing in its initial retentive force and after 2 years of simulated clinical use and to compare it with the regular nylon ball attachment housing.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty implants with their corresponding ball abutments (diameter 4.5 × 4.0 mm) were inserted in resin blocks. They were divided into two groups. In Group I, ten ball abutments each received their corresponding conventional attachment with nylon rings. In Group II, ten ball abutments received the novel CAD-CAM polyetheretherketone ball attachment housing. A universal testing machine was used to measure the retention force. The achieved maximum values of retention force were recorded at the beginning of the study (initial retention) and after 2 years of artificial ageing (2000 cycles of insertion and removal). Results were statistically analyzed using an independent sample T test.

RESULTS

The PEEK attachment housing showed high retention forces (25.12 ± 0.99 N) compared to the conventional attachment with a nylon ring (15.76 ± 0.93 N) in the initial dislodgement test. There was a statistically significant difference in mean retention at the initial retention test and after 2 years of stimulated usage between the two studied groups, p = 0.000.

CONCLUSIONS

Within the limitations of this study, the novel CAD-CAM-PEEK attachment showed high retention characteristics compared to the conventional attachment with nylon rings, initially and after simulated long-term use.

Guided immediate implant with and without using a mixture of autogenous and xeno bone grafts in the dental esthetic zone. A randomized clinical trial

PURPOSE

This in vivo study aims to assess the pink esthetic score in the anterior maxilla after computer-guided immediate implant installation and fully digital immediate temporalization with and without grafting the jumping gap with a mixture of 1:1 autogenous and xenograft particulates.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty-four patients with non-restorable upper anterior teeth in the aesthetic zone have undergone a traumatic extraction for the non-restorable tooth followed by immediate implant placement using a 3D-printed surgical guide according to prosthetically driven implant placement. The patients were divided into two groups. The study group received the dental implant after grafting the jumping gap with 1:1 autogenous and xenograft particulates, while the control group received the dental implant without grafting the jumping gap. Each patient received a digitally fabricated, immediate, nonfunctional temporary prosthesis. The esthetic outcome was compared between the two groups using the pink esthetic score at implant insertion and after 6 months of follow-up. Statistical comparisons were carried out between the studied groups using the Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS

Immediately postoperatively, there was no statistically significant difference between the median PES in the two groups (P-value = 0.746). After six months, the study group showed a statistically significantly higher median PES than the control group (P-value = 0.048).

CONCLUSIONS

Grafting the jumping distance in the immediate implant protocol helps achieve a better esthetic outcome.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

The use of immediate guided implant placement along with grafting the jumping gap followed by immediate digital temporalization guarantees a better esthetic outcome while preserving time, cost, and the number of clinical visits.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov with registration number NCT04096209. (19/9/2019).

Fabrication of a reverse-engineered custom scan body as a digital solution for recording implant position: A dental technique

A technique for the reverse engineering of the implant-abutment connection to fabricate a custom scan body is described. The implant-abutment connection was designed using the exocad software program, the scan body with screw channel was designed with the Blender software program, and the file was either 3-dimensionally printed in definitive tooth-colored resin with ceramic filler material or milled in polyetheretherketone (PEEK). This technique offers an accurate, cost-effective digital solution for implant optical scanning that can replace prefabricated scan bodies that may not be available for all implants. (J Prosthet Dent xxxx;xxx:xxx-xxx).

Digital duplication of maxillary complete denture: A dental technique

OBJECTIVE

This technique aims to construct a virtual, well-adapted maxillary denture from an existing, ill-fitting denture in completely edentulous patients.

CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONS

A functional impression is made using the loose maxillary denture, and a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) of the entire old denture is carried out. The obtained digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) file was segmented using an image computing platform software (3D slicer). The resultant Standard Tessellation Language (STL) file was 3D printed in porcelain white-like resin, then colored and characterized.

CONCLUSIONS

The technique introduces a high-quality digital denture replicate with good retention, that can replace the traditional duplication technique. It can also be used as a relining method for old dentures. This proposed digital technique reduces the number of clinical appointments while also providing a digital library for future denture manufacture.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The proposed technique offers a high-quality digital denture replicate that can replace the traditional duplication technique. This digital technique also reduces the number of clinical appointments required for denture duplication.

Retention of bar clip attachment for mandibular implant overdenture

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the retention and loss of retention after fatigue testing at different time intervals between two types of bar clip materials (digitally designed PEEK bar clip and regular Nylon bar clip).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An epoxy model was constructed for a completely edentulous mandible. Two implants were placed according to prosthetically driven implant placement by a computer-guided surgical stent. Bar clips were digitally designed, 3D printed, and pressed into Poly Ether Ether Ketone (PEEK). Pick up of PEEK and nylon clips was performed on the dentures fitting surface using self-cured acrylic resin. Each study group was subjected to an insertion and removal fatigue test simulating 3 years of patient usage. Retention values were recorded using the universal testing machine at initial retention and after 1, 2, and 3 years of simulated usage. For proper sample sizing, 24 models and dentures (12 for each group) were used. An independent sample t-test and repeated measures analysis of variance were used to compare the data.

RESULTS

There were statistically significant differences in retention between the PEEK and nylon bar clips at the beginning of the experiment (p = 0.000*). But after 3 years of simulated use, there was no significant difference in retention between the test groups (p = 0.055, NS). After 3 years of simulated use, the retention of PEEK clips decreased by - 58.66% recording 17.37 ± 1.07 N, while the retention of nylon clip increased by + 2.99% recording 16.56 ± 0.88 N.

CONCLUSION

The digitally designed PEEK clip showed comparable retention results to the nylon clip after 3 years of simulated use.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Maintenance of bar attachment with PEEK clip offers a clinical solution after the wear of normal plastic clips, which is a cheap solution that is easily fabricated and picked up into the denture. Digital fabricated PEEK bar retentive inserts can be used in cases of bar attachment wear.