Metal Additive Manufacturing for Fixed Dental Prostheses
Abstract
The use of additive manufacturing (AM) in dentistry has gained momentum in recent years. However, high initial costs and uncertainty surrounding the quality of AM products are considered barriers to their use. This research compared dental substructures fabricated by AM versus conventional casting and milling.
Cobalt-chromium alloy rectangular bars and three-unit bridge substructures were fabricated by AM, casting or milling. Bars manufactured by AM exhibited superior flexural strength, shear bond strength of porcelain coating, and Vickers hardness. Bridge substructures fabricated by AM showed similar flexural stiffness to cast, similar flexural loads at failure to milled and cast, and overall accuracy of fabrication within 12 micrometers. Cast substructures showed the greatest internal porosity, while samples fabricated by AM exhibited pores primarily within the abutment region.
Overall, bars and three-unit bridges manufactured by AM exhibited equal or better mechanical properties than those fabricated by conventional techniques.