title: A fully digital approach to replicate peri-implant soft tissue contours and emergence profile in the esthetic zone.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This short communication reports on a novel digital technique designated - the "Fully Digital Technique (FDT)" - to take the impression of the peri-implant soft tissue and emergence profile with an intraoral scanner, digitally capturing both the three dimensional position of the implant platform and the coronal and gingival parts of the provisional retained restoration.
  
  
  METHODS
  A first intraoral digital impression, which generated a standard triangulation language file (STL1), was taken using a standardized implant scanbody to detect the position of the implant. A second digital impression (STL2) with the provisional retained restoration in situ was performed in two steps: the first part of the scan captured all details of the vestibular and palatal sides of the provisional retained restoration and the adjacent teeth. The provisional retained restoration was then unscrewed, and the subgingival part of the restoration was scanned directly out of the mouth to determine its subgingival shape. STL1 and STL2 were imported into imaging software and superimposed using the "best fit" algorithm to achieve a new merged file (STL3) with the 3D implant position, the peri-implant mucosa, and emergence profile. The merged file was used to design the CAD/CAM customized abutment and to realize a stereolithographic model by 3D printing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The STL superimposition of digital impressions of the implant position and the provisional retained restoration constitute a novel technique to obtain a single STL file with the implant position and its peri-implant mucosal architecture.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FDT is a rapid digital approach for achieving all information of the peri-implant soft tissue and emergence profile directly from the provisional retained restoration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Monaco
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Evangelisti
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scotti
authors.affiliation: Mignani Odontotecnica Via Toscana, 32/2 40141 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mignani
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zucchelli
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D019250:Dental Implants, Single-Tooth; D003761:Dental Impression Technique; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D006801:Humans; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional
keywords: dental implant; digital impression; emergence profile; intraoral scanner; peri-implant tissue; scanbody