Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Optimizing 3D printing angles for dental prostheses and retainers
By Hu YD et al.·2026·Department of Information management·View original on Europe PMC →
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Original publication title: A simulation-based study of 3D printing angle optimization by integrating deep learning and NSGA-III for prosthesis and retainer manufacturing.
Plain-English summary
This study looked at improving how dental crowns and retainers are made using 3D printing. Currently, the tools available often require manual adjustments, which can lead to supports being placed in important areas. The researchers created a new system that uses advanced computer techniques to automatically find the best angles for printing, which helps reduce the amount of support material needed and the height of the print. They tested this system on 24 dental models and found that it worked much faster than existing software without compromising quality. While the results were promising, more real-world testing is needed before it can be used in dental practices.
Abstract
<h4>Statement of problem</h4>Current dental 3-dimensional (3D) printing workflows lack automated tools for optimizing build orientations that preserve critical clinical surfaces. Existing slicing software programs often require manual adjustment and may place supports in functional areas.<h4>Purpose</h4>The purpose of this simulation-based study was to develop and evaluate a computational framework by integrating deep learning and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm III (NSGA-III) to optimize build orientations for dental crowns and retainers by minimizing the support area (SA) and printing height (PH). A secondary objective was to assess the effects of angular resolution and mesh simplification on optimization outcomes.<h4>Material and methods</h4>A 3-stage framework was developed using PointNet++ for cast classification, MeshSegNet for feature recognition, and NSGA-III for dual-objective optimization. Mesh simplification was applied to enhance computational efficiency. Twenty-four dental casts were tested in a repeated-measures design at 1, 5, and 10 degrees angular resolutions. Nonparametric statistical analyses were performed using the Friedman test (α=.05) with post hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and Bonferroni correction.<h4>Results</h4>Mesh simplified reduced computation time by 87.0% without altering optimal orientation distributions. Reduced angular resolution significantly affected PH and SA outcomes under most conditions (P<.001), except for SA in the PH-optimized group (P=.004). Post hoc analysis confirmed the largest degradation in accuracy between 1 and 10 degrees. Compared with commercially available software programs, the proposed framework consistently avoided the placement of supports on critical surfaces.<h4>Conclusions</h4>The proposed framework provides an automated and efficient approach to optimizing build orientations in dental 3D printing. Although simulation results demonstrated improved optimization performance, further experimental validation is required before clinical application.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/41956844