Lohfeld, S.; Belnap, B.; Retrouvey, J.-M.; Walker, M.P. Effect of Model Body Type and Print Angle on the Accuracy of 3D-Printed Orthodontic Models. Biomimetics2024, 9, 217.
Lohfeld, S.; Belnap, B.; Retrouvey, J.-M.; Walker, M.P. Effect of Model Body Type and Print Angle on the Accuracy of 3D-Printed Orthodontic Models. Biomimetics 2024, 9, 217.
Lohfeld, S.; Belnap, B.; Retrouvey, J.-M.; Walker, M.P. Effect of Model Body Type and Print Angle on the Accuracy of 3D-Printed Orthodontic Models. Biomimetics2024, 9, 217.
Lohfeld, S.; Belnap, B.; Retrouvey, J.-M.; Walker, M.P. Effect of Model Body Type and Print Angle on the Accuracy of 3D-Printed Orthodontic Models. Biomimetics 2024, 9, 217.
Abstract
The assortment of low-cost 3D printers for “in-practice” use, e.g., for clear aligner therapies, is ever increasing. To address concerns about the accuracy of orthodontic models produced on such printers when cost efficient modes of 3D printing are employed, this study examined the effect of print model body type and print angulation on accuracy. Six printing-configuration groups were included: 2 model types (solid or hollow shell) combined with 3 print angles (0°, 70°, or 90°) with 10 models/group; all models were printed with 100-µm layer thickness using a digital light processing-based 3-dimensional printer. Eleven selected structures and distances were measured on the printed models with a digital microscope and compared to the same measures on a digitized master model. The clinically-acceptability range was set at ±0.25 mm difference from the master model for single tooth measurements (intra-tooth) and ±0.5 mm for cross-arch measurements (inter-tooth). For individual measurements across all models, 98% fell within clinical acceptability. For mean measurements within each model group, only canine height for the shell-0° model had a mean difference (0.26 mm ± 0.03) outside the clinically acceptable range for intra-tooth measurements. Standard deviations for all intra-tooth measurements were within 0.07 mm. While none of the mean inter-tooth measurements exceeded the acceptability range, the standard deviations were larger (0.04 to 0.30 mm). Accuracy of orthodontic models for clear aligner therapies was not impacted beyond the clinically acceptable range when altering model body type and print angulation to improve efficiency of 3D printing. These findings suggest greater flexibility of the practitioner to alter print settings to address time and cost efficiency in various clinical scenarios and still maintain clinically acceptable model accuracy.
Keywords
digital dentistry; 3D printing; accuracy; orthodontic models; clear aligners
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Other
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
