Comparison of Denture Base Adaptation and Some Mechanical Properties among Conventional, CAD-CAM, and 3-D Printed Denture Base Materials
Author(s): Ameer yousif abdul-allah* and Ali Jameel abdulsahib
Abstract
Introduction: In this study, the mechanical properties of several materials and technologies used in the fabrication of denture bases are compared (denture base adaptation, surface roughness and surface hardness). The digital technologies of CAD-CAM and 3-D printing were highlighted in the study.
Aim: Compare the adaptation of denture bases between three type of acrylic resins; conventional heat-cured acrylic, CAD-CAM acrylic and 3-D printer acrylic by digital superimposition.
Materials and methods: Three PMMA sheets were used to make a total of 90 acrylic resin specimens; conventional heat-cured acrylic, CAD-CAM acrylic and 3-D printer acrylic and divided into three groups according to the test (each group consist of 30 specimens). Denture base adaptation test including maxillary record base fabrication by the reference base in which it designed by EXOCAD and saved as STL files, after fabrication of 30 record base the digital superimposing with the best fit by EXOCAD was done and measuring the gap in a 60 point in which it distributed over the whole anatomical landmark. The hardness and roughness tests specimens where fabricated by CNC machine with dimension (length=65, width=10 and thickness=2.5 mm) and tested by shore D durometer and profilometer respectively. ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparisons test (p=0.05) were used to statistically examine the data.
Results: the CAD-CAM acrylic resin significantly improved the denture base adaptation, surface roughness and surface hardness over the conventional and 3-d printer acrylic resin.
Conclusion: By comparing CAD-CAM fabrication with heat-cure and 3-D printer denture base processing techniques, the most accurate and repeatable fabrication technology was proved to be CAD-CAM.