Using 3-dimensional printing to create presurgical models for endodontic surgery

Advances in endodontic surgery--from both a technological and procedural perspective-have been significant over the last 18 years. Although these technologies and procedural enhancements have significantly improved endodontic surgical treatment outcomes, there is still an ongoing challenge of overcoming the limitations of interpreting preoperative 2-dimensional (2-D) radiographic representation of a 3-dimensional (3-D) in vivo surgical field. Cone-beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) has helped to address this issue by providing a 3-D enhancement of the 2-D radiograph. The next logical step to further improve a presurgical case 3-D assessment is to create a surgical model from the CBCT scan. The purpose of this article is to introduce 3-D printing of CBCT scans for creating presurgical models for endodontic surgery.