Ranking Technologies of Additive Manufacturing of Removable Complete Dentures by the Results of Their Mechanical Testing

Abstract

In this study, a methodology was developed for ranking manufacturing technologies of removable complete dentures (RCDs) according to the results of their full-scale mechanical tests. The actuality of the study is motivated by establishing the advantages and drawbacks of 3D-printed RCDs in contrast with ones manufactured via an analog protocol. The RCDs were fabricated via four technological routes that included various combinations of subtractive technologies (hot polymerization/HP and CAD/CAM milling) and additive manufacturing (digital light processing/DLP) ones and the installation of commercially available cosmetic denture teeth (DT). In the mechanical tests, different blocks of teeth (incisors, canines, premolars and molars) were loaded. To solve the ranking problem, it was proposed to interpret the results of the mechanical tests in terms of the reliability, durability and compliance/stiffness criteria. For this purpose, the combined AHP-VIKOR method was applied. In addition, a computer simulation of the mechanical loading conditions and the response of the RCDs was performed based on the finite element method (FEM). As the key conclusion, it was stated that additive manufacturing (AM) methods are competitive and cost-effective techniques for the fabrication of RCDs.