Project description
Stronger and cheaper dentures and implants will give millions a reason to smile
Tooth loss resulting from disease or trauma is quite common. Globally, about 30 % of people aged 65-74 years have no natural teeth. Dental treatment is costly, averaging 5 % of total health expenditure and 20 % of out-of-pocket health expenditure in most high-income countries. In most low- and middle-income countries, oral healthcare demands are beyond the capacities of healthcare systems. Use of fibre-reinforced composites as an alternative to common materials to manufacture denture superstructures could have a significant impact on cost, access and performance. However, current precision additive manufacturing methods cannot accommodate these materials. SCAT is optimising additive manufacturing techniques and fibre-reinforced composites to deliver a low-cost solution to improve the quality of life of millions of people.
Objective
Goal of the SCAT feasibility study proposal is to complete the technical, commercial and financial assessment of a new additive manufacturing technology which has demonstrated to have the potential to disrupt dentistry. In the common practice there are a lot of materials that can be used to manufacture denture superstructures: Zirconium oxide, Titanium, Chrome-cobalt. An alternative to metal supported and or ceramic restorations in removable and fixed dentures is provided by Fiber Reinforced Components, which represent a low-cost alternative to metal-alloy, metal–ceramic, all-ceramic restorations, and providing a superior resistance to fractures. Today, all the commercial 3D printers for dental applications do not make use of Fiber Reinforced Composite (FRC), all of them are using metallic materials, ceramic and resin materials.
Thus, the current practice to fabricate FRC dentures suffer of serious drawbacks due to the specific manufacturing methods: either loss of the mechanical proprieties and production of a lot of waste materials, or when hand-made the result is imprecise and dependent by the operator.
The SCAT project aims at overcoming the today fabrication limits by additive manufacturing using FRC materials.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringfibers
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcomposites
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineodontology
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringadditive manufacturing
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
20155 Milano
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.