ANALYSIS OF ACCURACY DATA ON MOBILE- AND TABLET-BASED PHOTOGRAMMETRY FOR RECORDING THE SPATIAL COORDINATE POSITION OF DENTAL IMPLANTS

Abstract

The emergence of new mobile photogrammetric solutions, including systems operating on smartphones and tablets, has facilitated the integration of contemporary digital technologies into clinical practice without the need to purchase additional dedicated hardware. Their implementation generally requires only a set of markers with calibrated coordinate encoding and a software component in the form of a mobile application. The synthesis and analysis of the available evidence regarding the use of mobile- and tablet-based photogrammetry may contribute to a more objective assessment of the accuracy of this technology, taking into account the conditions under which it has previously been validated, and may facilitate the identification of potential methodological sources of variability among the results reported in different studies. Objective. To perform a structured analysis of the available evidence regarding the metrological accuracy of mobile- and tablet-based technologies for photogrammetric registration of the spatial position of dental implants and to determine the methodological characteristics of their experimental and clinical validation, considering the reference systems used, the criteria applied to assess trueness and precision, and the level of standardization of the study protocols. Materials and Methods. Study was conducted as a review and analytical assessment of the available scientific evidence concerning the use of mobile- and tablet-based photogrammetry for recording the relative spatial positions of dental implants within digital protocols for prosthetic rehabilitation. Scientific publications relevant to the objective and scope of the review were identified using three electronic bibliographic and academic information-retrieval resources: PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. For each relevant publication, structured data extraction was performed with regard to the study design, the laboratory or clinical nature of the validation, the type and number of implants or multi-unit abutments, the type of mobile device used, the mobile photogrammetric system evaluated, the comparison system, the reference method, the criteria applied to assess trueness and precision, and the principal quantitative outcomes. Results and discussion. A total of 8 publications addressing mobile- and tablet-based photogrammetry were identified in the scientometric databases. Seven of these studies evaluated the accuracy of the investigated approach using different verification criteria, whereas one publication provided a detailed description of the workflow implemented with the PIC app system. At the time of this review, two commercially available mobile photogrammetric solutions for recording dental implant positions could be identified, which includes the PIC app system and the T-Marker system, together with one experimental approach involving video acquisition followed by data reconstruction using deeplearning algorithms. The overall level of evidence supporting these technical solutions should currently be regarded as preliminary and predominantly preclinical. Based on the presently available evidence, the most substantiated indication for the use of mobile photogrammetric systems in implant dentistry is the registration of the positions of four to six implants at the multi-unit abutment level during the rehabilitation of edentulous arches, particularly in situations in which conventional intraoral scanning may be susceptible to cumulative stitching errors. Conclusions. Mobile- and tablet-based photogrammetry represents a promising approach to the digital registration of the spatial coordinate positions of dental implants. Laboratory investigations and preliminary clinical studies have demonstrated potentially acceptable levels of linear and angular accuracy, with certain parameters showing advantages over conventional intraoral scanning. Given the methodological heterogeneity of the studies included in the analysis, further targeted investigations should be conducted according to standardized protocols, with clearly defined reference methods and unified assessment criteria, to improve the quality of the evidence supporting the application of mobile photogrammetry in implant dentistry.