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Review
. 2023 May 28;15(11):2488.
doi: 10.3390/polym15112488.

Adhesion of Conventional, 3D-Printed and Milled Artificial Teeth to Resin Substrates for Complete Dentures: A Narrative Review

Emmanouil-George Tzanakakis  1 , Panagiotis Pandoleon  1 , Aspasia Sarafianou  2 , Eleana Kontonasaki  1
Affiliations
Review

Adhesion of Conventional, 3D-Printed and Milled Artificial Teeth to Resin Substrates for Complete Dentures: A Narrative Review

Emmanouil-George Tzanakakis et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: One type of failure in complete or partial dentures is the detachment of resin teeth from denture base resin (DBR). This common complication is also observed in the new generation of digitally fabricated dentures. The purpose of this review was to provide an update on the adhesion of artificial teeth to denture resin substrates fabricated by conventional and digital methods.

Methods: A search strategy was applied to retrieve relevant studies in PubMed and Scopus.

Results: Chemical (monomers, ethyl acetone, conditioning liquids, adhesive agents, etc.) and mechanical (grinding, laser, sandblasting, etc.) treatments are commonly used by technicians to improve denture teeth retention with controversial benefits. Better performance in conventional dentures is realized for certain combinations of DBR materials and denture teeth after mechanical or chemical treatment.

Conclusions: The incompatibility of certain materials and lack of copolymerization are the main reasons for failure. Due to the emerging field of new techniques for denture fabrication, different materials have been developed, and further research is needed to elaborate the best combination of teeth and DBRs. Lower bond strength and suboptimal failure modes have been related to 3D-printed combinations of teeth and DBRs, while milled and conventional combinations seem to be a safer choice until further improvements in printing technologies are developed.

Keywords: 3D-prinitng; CAD/CAM; acrylic denture teeth; adhesion; complete dentures; milling.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Images of a detached tooth from the acrylic resin of a removable partial denture after one year of use ((a). frontal view, (b). frontal view of detached acrylic tooth #32, (c). occlusal view of detached tooth #32). The repair could involve an inverted cone inside the acrylic tooth, which many dental technicians use before pouring heat-cured acrylic.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Digital design of denture base (top), teeth (middle) and final denture (bottom).
Figure 3
Figure 3
CAD/CAM denture base (left) and teeth (middle), still attached to their respective PMMA disks in the milling machine and milled denture base and teeth before bonding (right).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Three-dimensional-printed denture base and separately printed denture teeth connected to the denture base.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Monolithic digital denture milled out of single pink-and-white-colored disk in a single milling procedure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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