In vivo validation of a three-dimensional optical method to document volumetric soft tissue changes of the interdental papilla.
BACKGROUND
Non-surgical and surgical periodontal treatment may cause volumetric changes in the gingival contour. Many techniques have been suggested to minimize soft tissue shrinkage; however, there is a lack of three-dimensional (3D) quantitative data comparing different treatment approaches. The aim of the present study was to clinically validate an easy-to-use chair-side procedure to document volumetric changes in the interdental papilla region.


METHODS
Nine volunteers participated in the study. A thin layer of a flowable composite resin material was applied on a papilla and volumetrically analyzed using the clinical chair-side computer-aided design/computer-aided machining (CAD/CAM) 3D method. To accurately measure the applied volumes, the composite resin volume was also determined using microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) and weight measurements. In addition, inter- and intraexaminer differences were evaluated in the same manner using a dental training unit (phantom head) to simulate clinical conditions.


RESULTS
No statistically significant difference was found between the results obtained by micro-CT and the weight measurements. The CAD/CAM 3D method showed a significant underestimation of the composite resin volume (P = 0.0047) compared to micro-CT, although the two methods correlated well (R(2) = 0.991). High accuracy was found when inter- and intraexaminer differences were evaluated, showing a concordance correlation coefficient of 0.99.


CONCLUSIONS
CAD/CAM 3D device and software are an easy-to-use chair-side method to document changes in soft tissues.
Strebel
Jan
J
Clinic for Preventive Dentistry, Periodontology and Cariology, Center for Dental Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Ender
Andreas
A
Paqué
Frank
F
Krähenmann
Michael
M
Attin
Thomas
T
Schmidlin
Patrick R
PR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003188:Composite Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D003764:Dental Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D005881:Gingiva / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D012984:Software; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography; D055815:Young Adult
D003188:Composite Resins; D003764:Dental Materials; C111840:flowable hybrid composite