Digital Quantification of Occlusal Contacts: A Methodological Study

Objective: To compare the reliability of digital occlusal contacts quantification and the validity of digital occlusal contacts quantification with traditional methods used for occlusal contact determination. Subjects and Methods: Thirty participants, all of whom were students at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden, were included in the study. Three different methods were used to evaluate occlusal contacts: (I) a digital examination of the patients’ casts, using the Ortho 3D Models (O3DM) software and measuring the total occlusal contact area in square millimeters (DE); (II) an examination involving the measurement of the total number of occlusal contacts on stone casts mounted in an articulator (AE); and (III) a clinical examination with the measurement of the total number of occlusal contacts with 8 μm-thick articulating foil (CE). Results: The repeated digital measurements (same casts scanned multiple times) showed a significant correlation of 0.85 (p 0.05). Conclusions: Digital casts can be used for quantification of the total occlusal contact area (in mm2) owing to the high reliability of repeated measurements and the strong validity of the method compared to traditionally employed stone cast measurements.