Comparing the accuracy of wet and dry milled denture bases combined with printed and milled teeth

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the accuracy of wet and dry milled denture bases combined with printed or milled denture teeth. Materials and Methods In this in vitro study, denture bases were manufactured using wet milled denture bases (Group I) dry milled denture bases (Group II). Teeth were milled by the same technique in Subgroup A in both groups, and they were printed in Subgroup B in both groups. All the dentures were scanned, and the data were imported to surface‐matching software to evaluate the accuracy of the teeth positions, the intaglio surfaces, as well as the overall accuracy of the denture. Statistical analysis was done using two‐way ANOVA for the accuracy of teeth positions and overall accuracy of the dentures, and unpaired t ‐test for the accuracy of the intaglio surfaces. The significance level was set at p  ≤ 0.05. Results Regarding the accuracy of teeth positions, the highest deviation (0.225 ± 0.0142 mm) was found in Group IIA (dry milled denture bases with dry milled teeth), whereas the least deviation (0.1332 ± 0.0236 mm) was found in Group IB (wet milled denture bases with printed teeth). On the other hand, regarding the accuracy of the intaglio surfaces, Group II (dry milled denture bases) showed more deviation (0.057175 ± 0.0111 mm) compared to Group I (wet milled denture bases) (0.043975 ± 0.009 mm). For the overall accuracy of the dentures, the highest deviation (0.1297 ± 0.0062 mm) was found in Group IIA (dry milled denture bases with dry milled teeth), whereas the least deviation (0.0937 ± 0.0132 mm) was found in Group IB (wet milled denture bases with printed teeth). Conclusions The most accurate teeth positions were obtained using printed teeth combined with wet milled denture bases. The most accurate intaglio surfaces were achieved using the wet milling technique. Overall accuracy was highest in dentures manufactured via wet milling of denture bases and 3D printing of denture teeth.