Objective: This work aims to present a pilot study of a non-destructive dental histo-anatomical analysis technique as well as to push the boundaries of the presently available restorative workflows for the fabrication of highly customized ceramic restorations.
Materials and methods: An extracted human maxillary central incisor was subject to a micro computed tomography scan and the acquired data was transferred into a workstation, reconstructed, segmented, evaluated and later imported into a Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing software for the fabrication of a ceramic resin-bonded prosthesis.
Results: The obtained prosthesis presented an encouraging optical behavior and was used clinically as final restoration.
Conclusion: The digitally layered restorative replication of natural tooth morphology presents today as a clear possibility. New clinical and laboratory-fabricated, biologically inspired digital restorative protocols are to be expected in the near future.
Clinical significance: The digitally layered restorative replication of natural tooth morphology presents today as a clear possibility. This pilot study may represent a stimulus for future research and applications of digital imaging as well as digital restorative workflows in service of esthetic dentistry.
Keywords: dental materials; digital dentistry; histoanatomical dental analysys; prosthodontics; resin-bonded prosthesis.
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