An In Vitro Study of Intaglio Surface, Periphery/Palatal Seal Area, and Primary Bearing Area Adaptation of 3D-Printed Denture Base Manufactured in Various Build Angles

Abstract

Statement of Problem. The influence of various building angles on the tissue surface adaptation of complete denture bases fabricated using digital light processing is lacking. Purpose. The objective of this research was to compare the adaptation in the overall intaglio surface, peripheral/posterior palatal seal area, and primary bearing area of the 3D-printed complete denture produced in 0, 45, and 90° build angles. Materials and Methods. A reference edentulous maxillary arch model was scanned to design virtual denture bases with computer-aided manufacturing (CAD) software with standard tessellation language (STL) files as output. Denture bases were fabricated by printing with a digital light processing (DLP) technique and divided into 3 groups according to build angles of 0°, 45°, and 90° (n = 10). To assess the adaptation, each STL file of the intaglio denture base was superimposed on the STL file of the reference model using surface-matching software. The adaptation was reported in root mean square error (RMSE) values and statically compared using one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) and followed by the Turkey’s test for multiple comparisons with a significance level of α = 0.05. Results. Overall, intaglio surface adaptation of denture bases printed from three angles had no significant difference in adaption. In the peripheral/posterior palatal seal area, denture bases printed at a 90° build angle showed significantly better adaption than other groups. In the primary bearing area, denture bases printed at 45° and 90° had no significant difference in denture adaptation; however, they exhibited better denture base adaptation than the 0° group significantly. Conclusions. The build angle has no effect on adaptation in the overall intaglio surface area. The build angle of 90° provided the best adaptation in the peripheral/posterior palatal seal area. The 45° and 90° build angles provided better adaptation than 0° in the primary stress-bearing area.