Comparison of scanning times for different dental cast materials using an intraoral scanner

Purpose Intraoral scanners can be used to scan dental study casts, to help reduce office storage space and facilitate model retrieval when necessary. The goals of this study were to compare the time necessary to scan mandibular yellow dental casts with and without titanium dioxide powder (TDP) and orthodontic type III white stone dental casts using an intraoral scanner. Materials and methods The study sample included 30 mandibular yellow stone dental casts scanned without TDP (group A) and scanned with TDP (group B) and 30 orthodontic type III white stone dental casts (group C). All casts were scanned with a Lava Chairside Oral Scanner. Scanning sessions were timed and recorded to the closest second and then converted into minutes and seconds. Descriptive statistics, a paired and an independent-sample t test, and Bonferroni correction were applied to the multiple tests. Results More time was required to scan yellow dental casts without powder than to scan dental casts with powder (P < 0.001). The orthodontic type III white stone casts were scanned faster than the yellow stone casts without powder (P < 0.001). Conclusion Intraoral dental scanners can be used to scan both yellow and white dental casts. It is time efficient for clinicians to use TDP if they are using yellow stone casts. The scanning time with orthodontic type III white stone is less than with yellow stone casts.