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Abstract

As digital technology continues to advance rapidly; the reliability and reproducibility of CAD software programs have become more important than ever. The purpose of this study is to compare the reproducibility of custom abutment designs using two CAD software programs: 3Shape Dental System CAD and exocad DentalCAD. The study consisted of designing abutments for 20 patient scans using 3Shape Dental System CAD and another 20 scans using exocad DentalCAD. The abutments were then milled in the laboratory with a 5-axis milling machine. Afterward, the shaved abutments were scanned and saved as STL files. To evaluate the differences in the designs, a three-dimensional analysis software called Geomagic Control X was used to compare and overlay the output files from either 3Shape Dental System CAD or exocad DentalCAD software with the scanned files. The statistical analysis, specifically the Mann-Whitney test, showed that there was no significant difference in consistency values between the two software programs (P-value=0.552). This means that both software programs perform similarly, demonstrating reliable repeatability and high accuracy as intended. This study highlights that both exocad and 3Shape software have the ability to consistently and accurately produce results. Therefore, using both software solutions for designing customized abutments leads to satisfactory outcomes.