Comparison of Dental Study Plaster Cast and it's 3D Printed Equivalents

Introduction: Plaster casts present golden standard in keeping patients data in 3D. The aim of this work was (1) to compare linear measurements made on traditional plaster casts and 3D printed copies of dental plaster casts, (2) to find new possibilities of reconstruction of digital data, its reliability based on various criteria and (3) to determine whether 3D printed copies obtained using open source system RepRap can replace traditional plaster casts in dental practice. Material and methods: 10 dental plaster casts from the Orthodontic department, Department of stomatology for children and adults, 2nd Faculty of medicine, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic were scanned by inEos Blue scanner and printed on 3D printer RepRap. Linear measurements between selected points on the dental arches of upper and lower jaws on plaster casts and their 3D copies were recorded and statistically analyzed. Results: Use of 3D printed copies has many advantages over use of traditional plaster casts, mainly mechanical durability and keeping the data in digital form unless needed for example for forensic reasons. The precision and accuracy of the RepRap 3D printed copies of plaster casts were confirmed based on the statistical analysis. Our study proved that 3D printed copies can replace traditional plaster casts and it is possible to use them for detailed analysis.