Exploring the Barriers to the Advancement of 3D Printing Technology

Abstract

3D printing technology is suitable for application in advancing digitization in dentistry. However, the use of this technology in the dental field is not as widespread as expected. The study discusses the barriers to advancing 3D printing technology in dentistry. First, Fuzzy Delphi was used to conduct in-depth interviews with experts to explore what barriers prevent the advancement of 3D printing technology in dentistry. Second, the decision-making and trial assessment laboratory (DEMATEL) was used to identify the cause-and-effect relationship among barriers. Because DEMATEL relies on the expert decision-making system, experts often have different experiences and backgrounds, so judgment results are often uncertain and inconsistent. Therefore, this study proposes using a rough-Z-number to integrate opinions among experts, which can effectively overcome the problems of inconsistency and uncertainty. After analyzing the results, we found that “lack of standard infrastructure” is the most important barrier to the advancement of 3D printing in dentistry, and this study provides improvement strategies based on the results. The results put forward countermeasures for the barriers to the promotion of 3D printing technology in dentistry, which will make the development of dental digitization more effective.