一群德国，埃及和阿联酋的研究人员开发了具有“ 4D”形状记忆能力的新型3D印刷牙科对准器。
DLP-printed fromKline Europe’stransparentClearx树脂、团队的矫正设备设计to soften once inserted into a user’s mouth, allowing it to adapt to, grip and reposition misaligned teeth. So far, the aligner has not only shown biocompatibility, but proven capable of predictably changing its properties over time, potentially making it an ideal alternative to single-use dental products.
The benefits of 4D tooth-alignment
As well as being less aesthetically-obvious than braces, and being easier to remove during meals, everyday dental aligners provide users with a more comfortable way of repositioning their wayward teeth. Currently made from various polymers, such devices tend to work by limiting the movement of teeth to a certain preset distance, with patients prescribed multiple of these to achieve a gradual repositioning.
However, according to the scientists, many popular aligners are only designed to move teeth 0.2 to 0.3 mm or rotate them from 1° to 3° at a time, while only lasting 14 days each, thus they take a long time to work and come at a high cost.
While the researchers acknowledge that 3D printing is already being deployed extensively in this area to address these issues, they maintain that research into “improving treatment efficiency” remains ongoing. In fact, the team says that the alignment speed “shortcomings of conventional materials” have become of high concern, but say that shape memory polymers (SMPs) could now help rectify this.
“[Prior] orthodontic aligner systems based on thermoresponsive shape memory polyurethane based thermoplastic materials, have shown the ability of one aligner to recover its shape through three steps of material treatment,” explain the team in their paper. “Consequently, they conduct stepwise tooth movement, in a way that one aligner may be able to replace three subsequent conventional aligners.”
“Through shape memory properties, they [4D aligners] can store a large number of geometries throughout orthodontic treatment.”
磨练形状记忆对准器
研究人员引用了关于牙科对齐器生产中SMP的潜力的“缺乏文献数据”，因此开始通过开发自己的热刺激响应设备来评估自己。首先，团队利用标准Asiga Max3D printer and the ClearX resin, which is marketed as ideal for producing ‘shape-shifting aligners,’ to create six initial prototypes.
准备好后，这些样品被浸入热水中，然后被应用于故意错位牙齿的口腔模型。在此过程中，牙齿周围的蜡软化，使其可以由牙科典型室形成，然后将其冷却以捕获这种烙印，然后再在模拟的口中温度下重新涂抹，以实现3mm的重新调整。
Although the six 50 x 10 x 1.0 mm3prototypes only proved capable of moving the tooth by 2.06–2.82 mm, the researchers say this still represents a significant improvement on current devices, around ten of which would be required to reach the same result.
The scientists also found that their devices were able to maintain the ‘light continuous force’ needed to accomplish gradual tooth movement more effectively. As opposed to conventional aligners, which the team believe to have a tendency to “return to their resting state” after prolonged use, they say their alternatives showed the ability to change shape on-demand, while maintaining their properties.
Moving forwards, the researchers therefore see great potential in their approach for cutting down the costs and lead times associated with aligner production, although they admit that their experiments didn’t fully replicate the humidity of the human mouth or the complexity of multi-tooth alignment, thus they say their devices still require further testing.
Commercial dental 3D printing
仅在过去的几个月中，牙科行业中3D打印的日益普及就促使许多制造商发射新的材料和机器，每件机器旨在促进高通量对准器的生产，因为他们竞争竞争，以塑造利基市场什么正在迅速成为一个高度持续的市场。
Earlier this month, 3D printer manufacturer桌面金属’shealthcare business unitDesktop Health,released its new Einstein rangeof dental systems. Powered by ‘HyperPrint’ technology, a process said to provide them with a speed boost of up to 50% compared toEnvisionTEC’sEnvision Onesystems, these machines were launched alongside the complimentaryFDA-cleared Flexcera Smile Ultra+ resin.
Late last year, desktop LCD 3D printer manufacturerUniz还began shipping its NBEE resin 3D printer。该系统专门针对牙医的大量生产需求而设计，将速度，质量和可用性结合在一起，以解锁对准器模型，义齿基础，夜间后卫，手术指南，皇冠和桥梁3D打印应用程序。
Elsewhere, the likes ofProdwayshave now started to 3D print end-use products in extremely high quantities for dental customers as well. In December 2021, the company revealed that it had been commissioned to supply an unnamed ‘major industrial project,’ that will see its machines used to produce up to amillion dental aligners per year。
The researchers’ findings are detailed in their paper titled “Potential Application of 4D Technology in Fabrication of Orthodontic Aligners。” The study was co-authored by Tarek M. Elshazly, Ludger Keilig, Yasmine Alkabani, Ahmed Ghoneima, Moosa Abuzayda, Wael Talaat, Sameh Talaat and Christoph P. Bourauel.
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Featured image shows a generic image of a batch of 3D printed dental aligners. Image via Prodways.
