Comparison of Digital Scanners and Scanning Protocols for Implant Rehabilitation in Edentulous Jaws: An In Vitro Study

Abstract The accuracy of full-arch edentulous scans for implant-supported prostheses remains clinically controversial, as scanning larger edentulous areas may compromise digital impression accuracy. This study aims to investigate the accuracy of three digital scanning procedures using two intraoral digital scanners in a mandibular edentulous jaw with four implants. Three scanning procedures: 1-Implant scan bodies (ISB) only (PEEK), 2-ISBs splinted to each other with dental floss, and 3-ISBs splinted to each other with PEEK rods, were used with two different scanners (TRIOS 3, Straumann Virtuo Vivo) in this study. As the control group, only ISBs were scanned with a laboratory scanner. ISBs were numbered from the mandibular right premolar area to the left. Digital software used for measuring the distances between ISBs (S1–S2, S1–S3, and S1–S4). The data were analyzed using SPSS (α = 0.05). No significant difference in trueness was observed between S1-S2 and S1-S3, regardless of scanner or splinting. It was observed that the difference between S1-S4 was statistically significant (p