Model Analysis of Digital Models in Moderate to Severe Crowding: In Vivo Validation and Clinical Application

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the suitability of intraoral-scan models for measuring tooth dimensions and the amount of crowding in patients with severe tooth crowding. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-eight patients who had undergone intraoral scans for diagnosis were included. Cast models were divided into two groups depending on the amount of crowding, as determined by initial caliper-based measurements (mild crowding [MC] group: <3.0 mm; severe crowding [SC] group: >4.5 mm). Twenty maxillary models and 20 mandibular models were used in this study. For the three types of models (i.e., IS digital model, C cast model, and CS digital model), the reproducibility and the precision of linear measurements were evaluated. RESULTS: We found that linear measurements made using digital calipers on a plaster model and on the relevant software were reproducible. There was no significant difference in most linear measurements between digital models and the C model. There were differences in the amount of crowding (p < .05), although these were not clinically significant. There was no relationship between the precision of crowding in the three types of models and the severity of crowding. CONCLUSIONS: Digital models can be used for measuring crowding in both mild and severe crowding cases. However, crowding measured by digital models tends to be lesser than that measured by cast models, and this should be considered during clinical application.