Comparative analysis of the adhesion of metallic inserts on dental implants-prosthetic assembly generated by polymeric materials used for additive manufacturing

Resumen

Materials used in additive manufacturing provide several advantages due to their versatility and availability as inputs but also have a certain degree of uncertainty in their applications to the industry. One of the research fields complementary to this type of materials relates to the adhesives used to attach different components of an assembly whose dimensions are defined by a machine. Clinics and laboratories in the dental sector are trying to adopt CAD-CAM techniques, including 3D printers and numerical control machines, as milling devices. Usually, dentists must face long waiting periods until the laboratory provides suitable and implantable dental pieces, which would be significantly shortened if the additive manufacturing is applied, as it will allow the professional to provide customized solutions and reduce the wait time. In this work, a case-control comparison on adhesives was performed, considering both those commonly used in medicine and others more oriented to the non-medical industry and using samples as classic implant-prosthetic sets. The dental crowns used in restorative dentistry that are part of the assemblies were digitized with hand scanners, modeled and edited on 3D meshes and, finally, printed on a medium-sized 3D printer. The results obtained in tensile tests showed the suitability of alternative commercial adhesive products in biocompatible materials that are commonly used in additive manufacturing, such as ULTEMTM 1010 or Polycarbonate.