Evaluation of a new intraoral paralleling device for creating guiding planes: a pilot study

The aim of the study was to assess the accuracy of a new intraoral paralleling device for creating proximal guiding planes for removable partial dental prostheses. Thirty gypsum casts were divided into two groups in which the proximal surfaces of selected teeth were prepared using either a surveying device (Group 1) or the new ParalAB paralleling device (Group 2). In each cast guiding planes were prepared on the distal surface of the maxillary left canine (A), on the mesial and distal surfaces of the maxillary left second molar (B and C), and on the distal surface of the maxillary right canine (D). Each prepared surface formed an angle related to the occlusal plane that was measured five times and averaged by one operator using a tridimensional coordinate machine. The mean guiding plane angles (+/- standard deviation) for the prepared surfaces were A=91.82 degrees (+/-0.48 degrees ), B=90.47 degrees (+/-0.47 degrees ), C=90.21 degrees (+/-0.76 degrees ), and D=90.50 degrees (+/-0.73 degrees ) for the dental surveyor (Group 1) and A=92.18 degrees (+/-0.87 degrees ), B=90.90 degrees (+/-0.85 degrees ), C=90.07 degrees (+/-0.92 degrees ), and D=90.66 degrees (+/-0.76 degrees ) for the ParalAB paralleling device (Group 2). A two-way ANOVA, Tukey's, and Levène's tests (at p