Challenges and Future Perspectives for Additively Manufactured Polylactic Acid Using Fused Filament Fabrication in Dentistry

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM), which is also called rapid prototyping/3D printing/layered manufacturing, can be considered as a rapid conversion between digital and physical models. One of the most used materials in AM is polylactic acid (PLA), which has advantageous material properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and nontoxicity. For many medical applications, it is considered as a leading biomaterial. In dentistry, in addition to its uses in dental models (education, teaching, simulation needs), it can be used for therapeutic objectives and tissue engineering. The fused filament fabrication (FFF) technique, also called fused deposition modeling (FDM), is widely used as an AM technique to perform complex and functional geometries directly from CAD files. In this review, the objective was to present the different challenges and future perspectives of this additively manufactured material by using FFF in dentistry areas. Some suggestions for future directions to extend to more dental applications (support structures, lattice structures, etc.) and to consider more criteria (sustainability, uncertainty etc.) will be discussed. Advanced studies such as machine learning (ML) techniques will be suggested to reduce the failure cases when using the additively manufactured PLA by FFF in dentistry.

Reverse optimum safety factor approaches as effective tools for reliability-based topology optimization with application to cementless hollow stems used in total hip replacement

“…The use of the developed RBTO approaches allows to provide the best compromise between their weight and rigidity. When developing the RBTO approaches for this area, the applications to cellular structures can be extended to cover surgical operations in dentistry (maxilla and mandible) [36]. A cellular structure can be optimized to be used between the fracture's surfaces to replace the lost bone part considering the advanced strategies in RBTO model.…”

Dynamic Mechanical and Biological Characterization of New 3D-Printed Polymeric Dental Materials: A Preliminary Study

“…In SLA, a UV-sensitive liquid resin that selectively hardens when a material surface is exposed to a UV laser beam is employed [4], while in SLS, a laser is used as the energy source to selectively sinter a powdered material, solidifying it. FDM is a useful technique thanks to its geometric flexibility and low cost; with this technique, it is possible to produce polymer prostheses with hollow, semi-hollow, and solid structures, allowing the easy fabrication of various dental applications [5]. The SLS technique, on the other hand, can also be used to cast various metal alloys, including for metal frameworks for dentures, crowns, and dental implants, while the polymers used in SLS are usually applied in the manufacture of surgical guides and dental models [6].…”

Synthesis of L-Ornithine- and L-Glutamine-Linked PLGAs as Biodegradable Polymers

“…Biodegradable polymers have many developing different applications in the medical field [1][2][3][4]. In recent years, research on environmentally friendly polymeric designs for biomaterials has become increasingly widespread around the world [5][6][7][8]. For instance, it has been reported that an L-lysine-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticle system, which supports cell proliferation and angiogenesis, has been developed as a nontoxic, biocompatible, and cost-effective microparticle system for rapid vascularization [9].…”