3D printing technology for periodontal complex neogenesis in regenerative medicine

Since 3-dimensional (3D) printing technology was commercialized in the 1980s by Charles W. Hull, who invented and patented stereolithography, various types of additive manufacturing systems have been developed, such as fused deposition modeling using thermoplastics, selective laser sintering or selective laser melting (SLM) with a high-energy laser source and powder materials, and digital light processing by light curing technology, as well as different materials (e.g., polymers, metals or metallic alloys, and ceramics) in order to create rapid-prototyping models. Although the SLM process was introduced to manufacture dental products in the early 2000s, conventional methods based on dental impression techniques, including computer numerical control milling systems, have continued to be utilized for dental prostheses because newer methods have limitations for the clinical acceptability of fabricated dental prostheses. Moreover, 3D printing techniques have recently received attention due to improvements in the quality of high-resolution medical images from intra-oral scanners or cone-beam computed tomography, which have enabled rapid, highly accurate, and reproducible manufacturing of digitized models with micron-scale architectures. Consequently, temporary crowns, splints, implant surgical guides, or different dental prostheses can now be fabricated as tissue replacements or disposable devices.