Evaluation of Two 3D Printers for Guided Implant Surgery

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Engineering
• Dental Implantology
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Guided oral implant surgery relies on precise surgical templates for accurate placement.
• 3D printing technologies offer potential for cost-effective template fabrication.
• Consumer-grade printers present a more accessible option, but their accuracy requires validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate and compare the accuracy of surgical templates produced by a consumer fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printer versus a professional digital light processing (DLP) 3D printer.
• To determine the suitability of consumer-grade 3D printing for fabricating templates essential for guided oral implant surgery.

Main Methods:

• Eight virtual surgical templates were fabricated using both FFF and DLP 3D printing technologies.
• Optical scanning was employed to capture the geometry of the printed templates.
• Surface scan data were aligned with virtual models to quantify incongruences, with statistical analysis (t-test) performed to assess accuracy differences.

Main Results:

• Templates produced by the professional DLP printer demonstrated statistically significant lower incongruence compared to those from the consumer FFF printer (P = .001).
• The findings indicate a clear difference in accuracy between the two 3D printing methods for surgical template production.

Conclusions:

• The accuracy of 3D-printed surgical templates is highly dependent on the specific printer technology and fabrication method employed.
• The tested consumer FFF 3D printer is currently not suitable for producing templates for implant-guided surgery due to insufficient accuracy.
• Future research should establish minimum performance requirements for 3D printers and printed templates intended for guided implant surgery.