# Comparative Analysis of the Comfort of Children and Adolescents in Digital and Conventional Full-Arch Impression Methods: A Crossover Randomized Trial

## TL;DR

This study compares the comfort of traditional and digital dental impression methods in children and adolescents, finding digital methods more comfortable.

## Contribution

The study introduces a crossover randomized trial comparing two intraoral scanners and conventional methods in pediatric patients.

## Key findings

- Digital impression techniques showed higher total comfort compared to conventional alginate impressions.
- Middle adolescent group reported the worst comfort during conventional impressions.
- Statistically significant differences were found between all methods on the VAS scale.

## Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the comfort of children and adolescents with conventional full-arch dental impression methods compared to two intraoral scanners (iTeroTM and PrimescanTM). Methods: A monocentric, analytical, controlled crossover study was designed to compare conventional impression and digital impression with two intraoral scanners (iTeroTM and PrimescanTM) in children and teenagers. Patient comfort was evaluated using a 100 mm VAS scale adapted to Spanish and for children. A descriptive and analytical statistical method was conducted with a confidence level of 95% (p ≤ 0.05) and asymptotic or bilateral significance. Results: A total of 51 subjects were enrolled in the study (mean age = 12.35 years). Although the group of 10–14-year-olds was the most numerous, gender was equally distributed among the age groups. None of the variables on the VAS scale showed differences between the gender categories (p > 0.05). There were differences (p < 0.05) with respect to the age categories, as the middle adolescent group showed the worst general perception and total comfort during the conventional impression. Statistically significant differences were found between all VAS scale items and the three impression methods (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The digital impression technique is superior in terms of total comfort to the conventional alginate impression in children and adolescents.