Esthetic Evaluation and Acceptability of Different Hole Designs on Implant Crowns from the Perspective of Patients and Dentists in China

Cai Wen,1– 3 Rong Jiang,4 Zhiqiang Zhang,4 Bo Lei,4 Yingquan Zhong,4 Huangjun Zhou1,3 1Department of Oral Implantology, The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of VIP Dental Service, The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 3Orofacial Reconstruction and Regeneration Laboratory,The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Dentistry, People’s Hospital of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Ma’erkang, Sichuan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Cai Wen, Department of Oral Implantology, The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China, Email wencai@swmu.edu.cnPurpose: Abutment access hole on dental implant crowns may facilitate crown retrieval and reduce cement overflow but present esthetic obstacle for patients. This study aimed to investigate the esthetic evaluation and acceptability of implant crowns with different hole designs from the perspective of patients and dentists.Materials and Methods: Anterior and posterior implant zirconia crowns were fabricated into three types: no hole (NH), 1 mm micro hole (MH), and 2.5 mm regular hole (RH). The NH crown was set as the control, and the anterior and posterior crowns with MH and RH were evaluated. The subjects, who were recruited randomly, were comprised of lay patients (n=60) and professional dentists (n=30). All subjects were invited to evaluate the esthetic performance of MH and RH crowns on a Visual Analog Scale (VAS), rate them from 0 to 10, state their acceptability of these crowns, and label them as acceptable and unacceptable.Results: The ANOVA analysis of the VAS esthetic evaluation showed that the size of the hole, the position of the teeth, and the professional background of th