Fabrication of a single-visit additively manufactured flexible removable partial denture as an immediate temporary prosthetic solution.

Abstract

A technique for designing and manufacturing a single-visit temporary removable partial denture is described. This immediate provisional prosthesis is made of a newly introduced esthetic 3D-printed thermoplastic material. The arch to be restored, the antagonist, and the jaw relationship were optically scanned using an intraoral scanner (Medit i700; Medit). The removable partial denture was designed using the Exocad software program (Dental CAD; Exocad GmbH). The denture base was 3D printed in flexible gingival-colored resin, while the teeth were 3D printed in permanent tooth-colored resin. This digitally fabricated prosthesis will provide partially edentulous patients with a time- and cost-effective aesthetic temporization with adequate retention and high patient acceptance. This technique demonstrates free-form designing of the flexible clasps and their geometry. It also highlights the need to develop specialized dental software programs to include ready-made flexible clasps to cope with the continuous development of flexible 3D-printed resinous materials.