Chair-side fabrication of customized interim prostheses using additive manufacturing - A descriptive study

Abstract: Objective: The aim of this study is to describe additive manufacturing and evaluate how dentistry can take advantage of this technique today in general and for chair-side production of customized interim prostheses in particular. Method: Searches was made in the databases PubMed and ScienceDirect for information about additive manufacturing for dental applications. Searches was also made in the Rapid Prototyping Journal. Contacts was established with companies working with additive manufacturing for dental applications. The search engine Google was also used to find information about the additive manufacturing techniques in general and for dental applications. Results: Additive manufacturing is a rapidly expanding industry and can currently be used for several different applications in dentistry. It is today possible to use this technique, with materials approved for intraoral use, for chair-side fabrication of customized interim prostheses. Conclusion: Today it is possible to use additive manufacturing for chair-side production of interim prostheses. However, currently this production technique is still far too time consuming to be used effectively chair-side. With the current advancements in the area of additive manufacturing there is no doubt the technique can be utilized in the future and hopefully serve as a more reliable and safe way of producing interim prostheses.