The effect of perioral scan and artificial skin markers on the accuracy of virtual dentofacial integration: Stereophotogrammetry versus smartphone three-dimensional face-scanning

This study evaluated the effects of different matching methods on the accuracy of den-tofacial integration in stereophotogrammetry and smartphone face-scanning systems. The integra-tion was done (N = 30) with different matching areas (n = 10), including teeth image only (TO), perioral area without markers (PN) and with markers (PM). The positional accuracy of the inte-grated models was assessed by measuring the midline linear deviations and incisal line canting between the experimental groups and laser scanner-based reference standards. Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U tests were used for statistical analyses (α = 0.05). The PM method exhibited the smallest linear deviations in both systems; while the highest deviations were found in the TO in stereophotogrammetry; and in PN in smartphone. For the incisal line canting; the canting degree was the lowest in the PM method; followed by that in the TO and the PN in both systems. Although stereophotogrammetry generally exhibited higher accuracy than the smartphone; the two systems demonstrated no significant difference when the perioral areas were used for matching. The use of perioral scans with markers enables accurate dentofacial image integration; however; cautions should be given on the accuracy of the perioral image obtained without the use of markers.