Digital versus Analog Procedures for the Prosthetic Restoration of Single Implants: A Randomized Controlled Trial with 1 Year of Follow-Up

Table 1

Digital versus analog procedures: workflow.

Digital procedure	Analog procedure
First appointment in dental clinic; (1) Healing abutment (HA) removal; (2) Intraoral scan; (i) implant site without HA + adjacent teeth; (ii) opposite arch; (iii) occlusal registration; (iv) scanbody insertion; (v) implant site with scanbody; (3) Colour determination; (4) HA re-insertion	First appointment in dental clinic: (1) Healing abutment (HA) removal; (2) Impression taking; (i) implant arch in polyvinyl siloxane with transfer; (ii) opposite arch in alginate; (iii) occlusal registration; (3) Colour determination; (4) HA re-insertion
In dental laboratory: (1) Computer assisted design (CAD); (i) design of the upper portion of the individual abutment; (ii) design of the provisional crown; (2) Computer assisted manufacturing (CAM); (i) milling of the upper portion of the individual abutment in zirconia; (ii) the zirconia abutment is sintered; (iii) milling of the provisional crown in polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA); (iv) polishing and characterization of the provisional PMMA crown; (3) Assembly of the individual abutment by cementing the upper zirconia portion over the selected titanium base	In dental laboratory: (1) Preparation of the provisional resin crown; (i) the implant analog is assembled with the transfer; (ii) plaster models are poured; (iii) the transfer is removed; (iv) a prefabricated titanium abutment is inserted in the implant analog; (v) the abutment is manually prepared into the desired form; (vi) wax-up of the provisional crown; (vii) a silicon mask is prepared over the wax-up; (viii) the wax is removed; (ix) the resin is injected into the silicon mask and polymerized in order to obtain the provisional crown; (x) the provisional crown is polished and characterized; (2) Preparation of the metal coping; (i) wax-up of the coping; (ii) lost-wax casting for the fabrication of the metal coping; (iii) the metal coping is polished
Second appointment in dental clinic: (1) Healing abutment removal; (2) Insertion and activation of the individual hybrid abutment; (3) Delivery and cementation of the provisional crown	Second appointment in dental clinic; (1) Healing abutment removal; (2) Insertion and activation of the titanium abutment; (3) Delivery and cementation of the provisional crown
In dental laboratory: (1) Computer assisted design (CAD); (i) design of the final crown; (2) Computer assisted manufacturing (CAM); (i) milling of the final crown in zirconia; (ii) the zirconia crown is sintered; (iii) the zirconia crown is characterized	Third appointment in dental clinic: (1) The provisional crown is removed; (2) The metal coping is placed on the titanium abutment; (3) Impression taking; (i) implant arch in polyvinyl siloxane with the metal coping in position; (ii) opposite arch in alginate; (iii) occlusal registration
Third appointment in dental clinic: (1) Removal of the provisional crown; (2) Delivery and cementation of the final monolithic translucent zirconia crown	In dental laboratory: (1) Preparation of the final metal-ceramic crown; (i) plaster models are poured with coping in position; (ii) the ceramic is stratified over the metal coping and sintered; (iii) the ceramic is polished
	Fourth appointment in dental clinic: (1) Removal of the provisional crown; (2) Delivery and cementation of the final metal-ceramic crown