American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial OrthopedicsVolume 145, Issue 1 , Pages 108-115, January 2014
Introduction
Rapid prototyping is a fast-developing technique
that might play a significant role in the eventual replacement of
plaster dental models. The aim of this study was to investigate the
accuracy and reproducibility of physical dental models reconstructed
from digital data by several rapid prototyping techniques.
Methods
Twelve
mandibular and maxillary conventional plaster models from randomly
chosen subjects were selected and served as the gold standard. The
plaster models were scanned to form high-resolution 3-dimensional
surface models in .stl files. These files were converted into physical
models using 3 rapid prototyping techniques: digital light processing,
jetted photopolymer, and 3-dimensional printing. Linear measurements on
the plaster models were compared with linear measurements on the rapid
prototyping models. One observer measured the height and width of the
clinical crowns of all teeth (first molar to first molar) on all models
(plaster and replicas) using a digital caliper. All models were measured
5 times with a 2-week interval between measurements.
Results
The
intraobserver agreement was high (intraclass correlation
coefficient >0.94). The mean systematic differences for the
measurements of the height of the clinical crowns were −0.02 mm for the
jetted photopolymer models, 0.04 mm for the digital light processing
models, and 0.25 mm for the 3-dimensional printing models. For the width
of the teeth, the mean systematic differences were −0.08 mm for the
jetted photopolymer models, −0.05 mm for the digital light processing
models, and −0.05 mm for the 3-dimensional printing models.
Conclusions
Dental
models reconstructed by the tested rapid prototyping techniques are
considered clinically acceptable in terms of accuracy and
reproducibility and might be appropriate for selected applications in
orthodontics.
Comments