Statement of problem: Information about the accuracy of digital computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) complete dentures is scarce.

Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to assess the reproducibility of the occlusion of wax dentures fabricated with digital steps and the contraction behavior of wax trial dentures processed with combined conventional-digital steps. These were compared with those fabricated completely conventionally in terms of storage duration.

Material and methods: Five sets of maxillary and mandibular wax trial dentures were milled from a gingiva-colored wax blank (Ceramill D-Wax, Amann Girrbach AG) using the Ceramill Motion 2 System (Amann Girrbach), scanned, and matched by best-fit triangulation for each of the 5 denture pairs. Processing deformation was measured and the maximum deviations calculated. A 3-dimensional color-coded mapping of the differences between each pair of dentures was generated. Five sets of maxillary and mandibular wax trial dentures were processed with digital steps, and 5 sets of maxillary and mandibular wax trial dentures were fabricated in the conventional way with the help of a silicone index from a CAM-fabricated wax trial denture to standardize the wax amount. All dentures were scanned immediately after waxing and after 1 week of storage. After surface matching, the deformation was measured, and the milled wax bases were compared with those conventionally fabricated. Data were interpreted using descriptive statistics.

Results: The occlusion of wax trial dentures fabricated with digital steps was not reproducible. The deviations in the maxillary dentures were mostly marginal, with exceptions for single teeth/tooth groups in denture No. 2 (occlusal areas of teeth in second quadrant, second molars) and No. 4 (central incisor and canine in second quadrant inclined to palatal side, and first premolar in first quadrant and first molar in second quadrant displayed greater deviations). Among the mandibular dentures, denture Nos. 4 and 5 the central incisor (fourth quadrant) inclined to the labial side. Additionally, in denture No. 5 the lateral incisor (fourth quadrant) inclined to the lingual side.

Conclusions: In digitally fabricated dentures, the manual placing of the teeth into the denture base sockets can lead to deviations from the planned arrangement. The deviations were greater in the area of the denture bases in the conventionally fabricated dentures compared with those processed with combined conventional-digital steps. The milled wax bases showed better contraction behavior than the conventionally fabricated wax bases.