Abstract
Additive manufacturing (AM, 3D printing) is used in many fields and different industries. In the medical and dental field, every patient is unique and, therefore, AM has significant potential in personalized and customized solutions. This review explores what additive manufacturing processes and materials are utilized in medical and dental applications, especially focusing on processes that are less commonly used. The processes are categorized in ISO/ASTM process classes: powder bed fusion, material extrusion, VAT photopolymerization, material jetting, binder jetting, sheet lamination and directed energy deposition combined with classification of medical applications of AM. Based on the findings, it seems that directed energy deposition is utilized rarely only in implants and sheet lamination rarely for medical models or phantoms. Powder bed fusion, material extrusion and VAT photopolymerization are utilized in all categories. Material jetting is not used for implants and biomanufacturing, and binder jetting is not utilized for tools, instruments and parts for medical devices. The most common materials are thermoplastics, photopolymers and metals such as titanium alloys. If standard terminology of AM would be followed, this would allow a more systematic review of the utilization of different AM processes. Current development in binder jetting would allow more possibilities in the future.
Highlights
Additive manufacturing (AM), or, in a non-technical context, 3D printing, is a process where physical parts are manufactured using computer-aided design and objects are built on a layer-by-layer basis [1]
This review aims to explore which AM processes and materials are utilized in medical and dental applications
Some of the processes for certain materials are in the development and research phase, such as directed energy deposition VAT photopolymerization and material jetting for metals, and some seem not to exist at all, such as sheet lamination of ceramics or directed energy deposition of plastics and ceramics
Summary
Additive manufacturing (AM), or, in a non-technical context, 3D printing, is a process where physical parts are manufactured using computer-aided design and objects are built on a layer-by-layer basis [1]. There are other processes, such as incremental sheet forming or laser forming, that build objects on a layer-by-layer basis as well but do so by adding the form, not the material [2,3] These processes are not counted as an additive manufacturing process even though they have been used in making, for example, customized medical products [4,5]. A typical workflow for personalized medical devices starts with imaging or capturing the patient’s geometry using computed tomography or other 3D scanning methods [20] These data are manipulated to obtain a 3D model of the patient’s anatomy, and this can be an example already of additive manufacturing such as a medical model. Similar benefits can be found in other subject areas than medical and dental fields, for example, the industrial side, such as digital storage for industrial spare parts, which reflects heavily to digital storage of dental data
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