Accuracy of 3D printed polymers intended for models and surgical guides printed with two different 3D printers

Accuracy of five different 3D printing workflows for dental models comparing industrial and dental desktop printers

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy, in terms of trueness and precision, of printed models using five different industrial and dental desktop 3D printers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Full-arch digital models with scanbodies of 15 patients were printed with five different 3D printers. The industrial printers were 3D system Project MJP2500 (3DS) and Objet30 OrthoDesk (Obj). The dental desktop printers were NextDent 5100 (ND), Formlabs Form 2 (FL) and Rapidshape D30 (RS). A total of 225 printed models were analysed. The printed models were digitized and compared with the reference cast model using the Control X software (Geomagic). The descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA with the post hoc Tukey test were performed (α = 0.05).

RESULTS

The one-way ANOVA for the trueness and precision of the printed model presented the best results for the 3DS, followed by ND, Obj, FL and RS (P < 0.01). In the scanbody zone, the best results were for the 3DS group, followed by Obj, ND, FL and RS (P < 0.01). Comparing the technologies, the Multijet technology used in industrial printers presented better results than the DLP and SLA technologies used in dental desktop printers (P > 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

There were statistically significant differences in terms of the accuracy of the printed models, with better results for the industrial than the dental desktop 3D printers.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

The industrial 3D printers used in dental laboratories presented better accuracy than the in-office dental desktop 3D printers, and this should be considered when the best accuracy is needed to perform final prosthetic restorations.

Trueness of stereolithography ZrO2 crowns with different build directions

This study aims to measure the trueness of zirconia crowns with different build directions of materials fabricated using the stereolithography (SLA) method. The anatomic contour crown of prepped maxillary right first molar was designed using CAD software to obtain the standard tessellation language (STL) file. Two different build directions were set for the crowns using Materialize Magics software. One group was built with a margin base platform, while the other group was built in the direction opposite to the occlusal surface base platform. The 20 crown-shaped parts were printed. The STL files of scanned printing zirconia crowns were superimposed each segment by the 3D analysis software. The two groups were statistically analyzed using t-tests. Significant differences were found in the marginal and internal discrepancies between the groups. The build direction had a significant influence on the accuracy of the zirconia crown. The results indicate the most effective build direction for manufacturing SLA 3D-printed crowns.

Evaluating the Effect of Different Polymer and Composite Abutments on the Color Accuracy of Multilayer Pre-Colored Zirconia Polycrystal Dental Prosthesis

With increasing aesthetic awareness and emphasis on time costs in today’s society, monolithic multilayer precolored zirconia ceramics (M-Zr) facilitate aesthetic restorations in a convenient and straightforward manner without the need for veneering porcelain to modify the color. However, the effect of abutment materials on the final color of M-Zr remains unclear. Herein, we placed Vita A1 Shade M-Zr on six different abutment materials, zirconia (Y-TZP), 3D printed composite resin (CR), dental model resin (MR), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyetherketoneketone (PEKK), and cobalt−chromium alloy (Co−Cr), to evaluate their effect on the color accuracy of M-Zr. The color attributes (L*, a*, and b*) were measured using a dental spectrophotometer. The translucency parameter (TP), contrast ratio, color difference (ΔE) between each background substrate and the Vita A1 Shade Guide, and chroma values (C) were calculated to evaluate the color accuracy of M-Zr. A statistical analysis was performed using one-way analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey’s HSD tests (α = 0.05). The experimental results indicate that the TP values and contrast ratio of the M-Zr samples were 14.85 and 0.83, respectively. Co−Cr had the highest ΔE (6.08) and lowest C value (7.52); PEKK had the lowest ΔE (2.60), and PEEK had the highest C value (12.23) (p < 0.05). Notably, the ΔE values of CR (3.13), PEEK (2.86), and PEKK were within clinical indicators (ΔE < 3.7). Based on these results, it can be concluded that the abutment material has a significant effect on the final color of the M-Zr, and PEEK or PEKK resulted in good color accuracy. When choosing the dental MR, traditional zirconia, or metals as abutment materials, colored or opaque cement might be required to eliminate color distortion and achieve desirable optical properties.