Dental

This endosseous dental implant can be used as a basic abutment to replace a missing tooth. With LCM technology, implants can be shaped in a very complex way. Existing standard designs (see illustration) can also be mass-produced with high strength and geometric fidelity.

Dental implants manufactured with LCM technology exhibit excellent surface quality even without post-processing ("as-fired"). The material used, 3 mol%-partially stabilized zirconia (3Y-TZP), offers excellent strength without compromising on aesthetics. Of course, materials such as ATZ (alumina-reinforced zirconia) and ZTA (zirconia-reinforced alumina) are also suitable for dental implants. Read article.

Critically large bone defects can be the result of severe trauma, such as comminuted fracture of the jaw or bone resection due to bone tumors. The challenge in treating such large defects is that the bone itself is unable to heal the defect without appropriate measures. Here, we present a dual approach in which both the cage made of high-strength zirconia, which adequately supports the healing phase, and the inner volume of the implant made of bioresorbable beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) are fabricated in a single 3D printing process.

The figure shows a use case in which β-TCP can be resorbed by the cells and replaced by newly formed bone. The zirconia cage can be left in place due to its excellent biocompatibility.