3D Printing of Dental Structures

3D Printing of Dental Structures

Author(s):

Schweiger, J., Beuer, F., Stimmelmayr, M., Edelhoff, D., Magne, P., Güth, J.-F.

Publication Date:

4. November 2016

Download

BDJ volume 221, pages 555–560 (04 November 2016)

Histo-anatomic 3D printing of dental structures

Approaches to digital design of dental restorations and dentures using 3D printing

This publication contains a general description of the workflow for creating dental restorations using 3D printing with natural appearance and biomechanics. Through 3D capturing of external and internal tooth structures, additive manufacturing technology can reproduce an accurate image of the natural tooth.

The creation of dental restorations with natural appearance and biomechanics represents a major challenge for the restorative team. The manufacturing-process of high-aesthetic restorations from tooth coloured restorative materials is currently dominated by manual manufacturing procedures and the outcome is highly dependent on the knowledge and skills of the performing dental technician. Multilayer restorations show significant esthetic advantages over monolithic ones, but are difficult to produce with digital technologies.

This article describes the possibilities and technologies available for so-called ‘4D-printing’. It introduces the digital manufacturing process of multilayered anterior teeth using 3D multipart printing, taking the example of manufacturing replicas of extracted intact natural teeth.

Learn more about the application of 3D-based digital manufacturing processes in our tutorials and see the detailed documented application of the techniques in our stories!