Comparative Laboratory Measurement of Occlusal Contacts Registered by Articulating Paper and the T-Scan and Medit i500 Systems

Occlusion is strongly related to oral health and is a key factor for the successful outcome in dental restorations, because prosthetic restorations must not only be harmoniously integrated, but also balanced in terms of occlusion and articulation. The current study aims to establish the reproducibility of tooth contacts in central occlusion using a prototype of a new dental articulator and compare the results with the T-Scan and Medit i500 systems. Materials and Methods: We applied two different types of laboratory methods, digital and conventional, with digital registration being carried out with the T-Scan and Medit i500 systems, and the conventional one—with articulating paper. The R software environment (version 4.2.2, R Core Team, 2022) was employed to carry out the statistical analysis and produce the graphical visualizations. The methods used were: descriptive statistics, stacked paired t-test to test the presence of a statistically significant difference in the mean values of overlap, with the adopted significance level being α=0.05; two-way and three-way analysis of variance (two-way ANOVA); Fisher's post-hoc analysis; graphical analysis for data visualization. Results: The 40μm articulating paper established more common contacts than the digital devices. The three-way ANOVA analysis, used to compare the applied methods, reported good overlap, with statistically significant differences found only in the colors of the occlusal coating at 95% confidence interval, which gives us reason to conclude that there is no difference between the methods used, confirming the reliability of the new device. Conclusion: Despite the remarkable evolution of digital dentistry, still no single flawless occlusal analysis method exists. Both conventional and digital systems have their advantages and disadvantages, and the clinician must use them in a complementary manner for accurate analysis.