Evaluation of occlusal relationship reproducibility with CAD/CAM techniques

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of determining the area of the occlusal contact regions by CAD software.Materials and Methods: Nine subjects were recruited. The maxillary right first molars were the subject teeth. Optical impressions were taken six times. An optical impression of each antagonist was taken once. For optical bite registration, optical impressions from the buccal side during clenching were taken six times. The occlusal contact regions obtained by optical impressions and optical bite registration were represented using CAD software. The variabilities derived from changes in optical impressions were compared with those derived from changes in optical bite registration.Results: The variability of the area of the clearance region depending on changes in optical bite registration was significantly higher than that depending on changes in optical impressions.Conclusion: It was demonstrated that changes in optical bite registration affected the reproducibility of the area of the clearance region.