Comparison between conventional and computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing CADCAM complete dentures regarding cost and time assessment

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the overall laboratory costs and time needed to fabricate digitally constricted complete dentures in comparison to conventional complete dentures in Saudi Arabia dental laboratories. Material and Methods: Three major dental laboratories at two public and one private hospitals in Saudi Arabia were involved in this study. Sixteen single complete dentures (CDs), for patients who need either an upper, lower or both CDs, were fabricated using conventional protocol (n=9 single CDs), four lower and 5 upper dentures, while in the digital group (n=7 single CD), four lower and 3 upper dentures were included. In this work only the laboratory part of complete denture fabrication was studied. The Overall laboratory time required to perform all the steps required to fabricate the complete dentures weather using conventional or computer-aided design & computer-aided manufacturing (CADCAM) methods was calculated. The costs of the laboratory materials used were calculated in addition to the labour costs in both protocols to evaluate the economic costs. An unpaired t-test was performed for the statistical analyses (p < 0.05). Results: Digital complete denture method required significantly longer laboratory time than the conventional denture protocol (p<0.0001). Furthermore, the overall costs (laboratory cost materials+ labor costs) were significantly higher for the digital denture protocol than the conventional denture protocol (p<0.0001). Regarding the differences between fabrication of upper and lower CDs using both protocols, no significant difference was measured in both protocols (p> 0.05). Conclusions: The aim of this study was to compare the CAD/CAM versus conventionally constructed complete dentures regarding the laboratory costs and the spent time needed for fabrication. Within the limitations of this study, the digital complete denture method is more costly than conventional dentures in both the material costs and labor costs. Moreover, more laboratory time spent in construction of digital denture than the conventional denture.