THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTING FOR THE DENTAL INDUSTRY

摘要

Three-Dimensional Printing (3DP) has been developed for the production of dental copings. A coping is the metal foundation on which porcelain is fused to produce a crown. The current process of producing a coping involves building a wax coping on a cast stone die representing a patient's prepared tooth. A mold is made through the lost wax process and is used to cast the coping using various alloys. In the 3DP approach, first the tooth die is scanned to capture the geometric details of the preparation onto which the coping must fit. The resulting file is sent to the printer to produce precious metal alloy copings. Subsequent thermal processing of the copings includes curing, sintering, and optional infiltration steps. Finished copings are then ready for application of the porcelain finish layers. Details will be given of the printing and thermal processing routes, along with features of the finished copings.