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Project

Additive manufacturing of monolithic zirconia for dental restorations

The current production of tooth restorations in zirconia involves classic CAD/CAM milling of presintered zirconia blocks, which wastes material, introduces machining defects and limits the potential for individual aesthetic characterization unless a zirconia core is veneered with porcelain; during clinical functioning the latter bi-layered structure unfortunately results too often in chipping defects. Additive manufacturing, i.e. 3D-printing and formerly ‘rapid prototyping’, enables to produce complex 3D-objects directly from a digital model, while addressing an optimized use of material and possibility for mass customization. The layer-wise assembling of components from CAD data exclusively allows a one-step fabrication of monolithic restorations with a gradient translucency/colouration as that of the natural tooth. Along with the benefit that monolithic restorations solve the clinical issue of porcelain top-layer chipping, we aim to explore the capability of ceramic stereolithography to 3D-print dental zirconia restorations that combine excellent mechanical properties, high (hydrothermal) aging resistance and individual characterization potential (material engineering aspects), along with good surface quality in prevention of antagonistic tooth wear, high geometrical precision in terms of marginal/internal fit to the tooth preparation and durable adhesive luting (clinical aspects).

Date:1 Jan 2018 →  31 Dec 2021
Keywords:Additive manufacturing, Monolithic zirconia, Dental restaurations
Disciplines:Laboratory medicine, Palliative care and end-of-life care, Regenerative medicine, Other basic sciences, Other health sciences, Nursing, Other paramedical sciences, Other translational sciences, Other medical and health sciences