Evaluation of effects of brackets and orthodontic wires on intraoral scans: A prospective in-vivo study

Objective: To evaluate any distortion produced by multibracket fixed orthodontic appliances on digital models obtained from intraoral scans (IOS), considering the presence of both brackets only and brackets/archwire combination. Setting/sample: The IOS data of the arches of 20 patients (12 females and 8 males; mean age = 15.55 ± 2.84 years) were acquired using the CS3600 intraoral scanner (Carestream Dental, Atlanta, USA), without any appliances (model A), with vestibular brackets alone (model B) and then with brackets and orthodontic archwire fitted (model C). Materials and methods: Data were acquired between the months of January and October 2021 at the moment of indirect bonding phase. On each model, five intra-arch linear measurements were obtained (inter-canine, inter-premolar 1 and 2, inter-molar and arch depth), and after digital matching between model A and B (match 1) and A and C (match 2), the linear discrepancies were evaluated at 20 points (10 occlusal and 10 gingivolingual) previous identified on the reference model A. All measurements were performed using Geomagic Control X software (3D Systems, Morrisville, USA), and any dimensional variations and distortions were evaluated by the linear regression analysis and two-sample t-test (P ≤ .05). Results: The results show an almost perfect correlation between both models B and C and the reference model A, both as regards the intra-arch linear measurements and the linear discrepancies found at the 20 identified points. Conclusions: Multibracket fixed orthodontic appliances do not produce any relevant distortions in digital models obtained via intraoral scanning. Therefore, the removal of archwire is not mandatory before IOS.