Indirect bonding: an in-vitro comparison of a Polyjet printed versus a conventional silicone transfer tray

To investigate and compare transfer accuracy between a Polyjet printed indirect bonding (IDB) tray (SureSmile, Dentsply Sirona, Richardson, TX, USA) and a conventional two-layered silicone tray.

Plaster models of 24 patients were digitized with an intraoral scanner, and brackets and tubes were positioned virtually on the provider's homepage. IDB trays were designed over the planned attachments and Polyjet 3D-printed. For the conventional tray, brackets and tubes were bonded in their ideal positions manually before fabricating a two-layered silicone tray. For both trays, attachments were transferred indirectly to corresponding models. A second scan was performed of each bonded model to capture actual attachment positions, which were then compared to initial bracket positions using Geomagic Control (3D Systems Inc., Rock Hill, SC, USA). Linear and angular deviations were evaluated for each attachment within a clinically acceptable range of ≤0.2 mm and 1°. A descriptive statistical analysis and a mixed model were executed.

Both trays showed highest accuracy in the orobuccal direction (99.5% for the 3D-printed tray and 100% for the conventional tray). For the 3D-printed tray, most frequent deviations were found for torque (15.4%) and, for the silicone tray, for rotation (1.9%). A significant difference was observed for angular measurements (P = .004) between the trays.

Transfer accuracy of Polyjet printed IDB tray is not as high as transfer accuracy of the conventional silicone tray, though both trays show good results and are suitable for clinical application.