J Am Dent Assoc. 2017 Mar 5. pii: S0002-8177(17)30083-1. doi: 10.1016/j.adaj.2017.01.022. [Epub ahead of print]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW:
When
treating patients with severely limited mouth openings, it is difficult
for the dentist to obtain an impression and fabricate a removable
partial denture (RPD) by using traditional methods. Intraoral scanning,
computer-aided design, and 3-dimensional (3D) printing have provided
alternative methods for fabricating dental prostheses.
CASE DESCRIPTION:
The
authors present a case in which they aimed to improve the efficiency
and quality of fabricating an RPD framework by integrating the
technologies of intraoral scanning, computer-aided design, and 3D
printing. Initially, the authors reconstructed the digital cast with
multiple intraoral scans. Subsequently, the authors designed the virtual
RPD framework. On the basis of the virtual framework, the titanium
alloy framework was fabricated by means of a 3D printing process, and
the authors fitted the final RPD to the patient.
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS:
Unlike
the traditional method, this integrated system has the potential to
design a custom-made dental prosthesis and directly make an RPD
framework with complicated patterns.
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