Evaluation of the accuracy of dental casts manufactured with 3D printing technique in the All-on-4 treatment concept

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to compare the casts obtained by using conventional techniques and liquid crystal display (LCD) three-dimensional (3D) print techniques in the All-on-4 treatment concept of the edentulous mandibular jaw. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, a completely edentulous mandibular acrylic cast (typodont) with bone-level implants placed with the All-on-4 technique served as a reference cast. In this typodont, impressions were taken with the conventional technique and dental stone casts were obtained. In addition, after scanning the acrylic cast in a dental laboratory scanner and obtaining the Standard Tessellation Language (STL) data, 3D printed casts were manufactured with a 3D printing device based on the design. The stone and 3D printed casts were scanned in the laboratory scanner and STL data were obtained, and then the interimplant distances were measured using Geomagic Control X v2020 (3D Systems, Rock Hill, SC, USA) analysis software (n = 60). The obtained data were statistically evaluated with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s pairwise comparison tests. RESULTS: As a result of the one-way ANOVA test, it was determined that the stone casts, 3D printed casts, and reference cast values in all distance intervals conformed to the normal distribution and these values had a significant difference among them in all distance intervals. In Tukey pairwise comparison test, significant differences were found between casts at all distance intervals. In all analyses, the level of significance was determined as .05. CONCLUSION: 3D printed casts obtained with a 3D LCD printing device can be an alternative to stone casts when implants are placed in edentulous jaws.