Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of anterior span length on the accuracy of the intraoral scanner.
Methodology: One model was used to represent two anterior bridge span lengths. One group had missing upper central incisors representing short-span length, and the other had missing upper central incisors and lateral incisors representing long-span. A laboratory scanner (inEos X5) obtained a scan to act as a reference. For each group, five scans were obtained by the intraoral scanner (CEREC Primescan). The data set from the intraoral scans was superimposed on the reference scan using reverse engineering software to determine the trueness. Regarding precision measurement, the five scans taken by the intraoral scanner were superimposed on each other. Comparison between short and long-span edentulous areas was performed using Wilcoxon signed rank.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the different span lengths, long span (0.12 ± 0.107 mm) was insignificantly higher than the short span (0.082 ±0.04 mm) as P=0.22. Regarding precision, the long span (0.07 ± 0.07 mm) was insignificantly lower than the short span (0.082 ±0.04 mm) as P=0.57.
Conclusion: The intraoral scanner showed high trueness and precision in both long and short spans.