Effect of Steam Heat Sterilization on the Accuracy of 3D Printed Surgical Guides.

INTRODUCTION: Steam heat sterilization could be one of the factors that affects the dimensional accuracy of surgical guides, leading to an error during guided implant surgery. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of steam heat sterilization on the dimensional changes of surgical guides. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 27 surgical guides, which were made by either Formlabs printer (Formlabs Inc., Somerville, MA) or Simplant (DENTSPLY Implants NV, Hasselt, Belgium), were scanned using an intraoral scanner before and after sterilization. The dimensional changes at the center of the implant sleeves were analyzed using the computer-aided design interactive software for 65 implant sites before and after steam heat sterilization at 121 degrees C for 20 minutes. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the mean x, y, and z axes of the center of the sleeves when measured before and after sterilization (P values were 0.37, 0.24, and 0.29, respectively). Nonparametric analysis showed no significant difference between the mean deviations of either surgical guide (P = 0.908). CONCLUSION: Steam heat sterilization has a nonsignificant effect on the dimensional changes of the tested surgical guides.