Consistency of Intraoral-Scanner-Derived Occlusal Contact Distance Maps Between Centric Relation and Maximal Intercuspation

Background/Objectives: Intraoral scanners (IOSs) are increasingly used for digital occlusal evaluation; however, the interpretation of IOS-derived occlusal contact distance visualizations remains influenced by registration and alignment factors. This study aimed to compare occlusal contact distance distributions obtained with an intraoral scanner between maximal intercuspation (MIP) and centric relation (CR) under controlled scanning conditions. Methods: Fifteen participants underwent standardized digital bite registration in both mandibular positions. Only scans exhibiting interocclusal overlap ≤ 0.1 mm were included. Occlusal contact distance maps were exported, standardized, and quantified using an open-source image segmentation workflow to calculate the relative area of distance-based contact categories. Paired statistical analyses were performed to compare CR and MIP distributions. Results: No statistically significant differences were observed in the distribution of occlusal contact distance categories between centric relation and maximal intercuspation (p > 0.05). The proportion of very close contact distances remained low in both positions (approximately 6–9%), while mod