Introduction: Intra-oral scanning have the advantage of completely eliminating the conventional impression making process. In this study, the accuracy of intra-oral scans was evaluated in relation to the gold standard plaster orthodontic model.
Material and methods: the sample consisted of 50 patients with age ranging from 18 to 28 years old. For each subject, upper and lower alginate impressions and intra-oral scans were made. Maxillary and mandibular arch widths (inter-canine, inter-first premolar, inter-second premolar and inter-molar widths) were measured on digital models using OrthoAnalyzer software (3Shape Dental Systems, Copenhagen, Denmark) and compared to those made on plaster models using digital Vernier caliper. All data were collected, tabulated and subjected to statistical analysis.
Results: maxillary and mandibular arch widths had positive correlation with a highest value (0.999) for the upper inter-first premolar width and lower inter-molar width and the lowest was for the upper inter-canine width (0.994).
Conclusion: high accuracy of maxillary and mandibular digital models obtained by direct intra-oral scanning.