Traditional Alginate Impressions vs Digital Optical Impressions Using Reverse-Engineering Technology: A Comparative Study.

The article focuses on a comparative study evaluating the precision and accuracy of traditional alginate impressions versus digital optical impressions taken by second-year dental students using reverse-engineering technology. The study found that digital impressions, captured with an intraoral scanner, demonstrated significantly greater accuracy, precision, and reproducibility than traditional alginate impressions, even when performed by inexperienced operators. Using reverse-engineering software for 3D and point-by-point analyses, the research highlighted the dimensional instability of alginate materials and underscored the advantages of digital scanning for standardization in clinical practice. The findings support integrating digital impression techniques into dental education to improve student proficiency and clinical outcomes.