[Comparison of the effects of removable dentures made by 3D printing and traditional casting methods on patients' subjective feelings].

Purpose: To compare the different effects of removable dentures made by 3D printing and traditional casting methods on patients' subjective feelings.

Methods: A total of 80 patients with dentition defects of Ken's Class Ⅰ and Subclass Ⅱ were selected from the Department of Prosthodontics. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, with removable dentures made by using 3D printing and plaster casting method, respectively. The patients were asked to re-visit 1 week after wearing the dentures to observe and record intraoral mucosal tenderness points. At the same time, mastication efficiency was measured by absorbance method. The patients were followed up for 2 months after wearing dentures, and questionnaires were issued to them to investigate subjective feelings and satisfaction. The subjective feelings of patients included masticatory ability, retention effect, convenience, comfort, speech function and facial appearance. Satisfaction evaluation included three aspects: treatment duration, cost and final outcome. Each aspect of evaluation used a 5-point system, with a minimum score of 1 and a maximum score of 5. The higher the score, the better the patient's subjective feelings or the higher the satisfaction. The data were statistically analyzed with SPSS 17.0 software package.

Results: The tender points in 3D printing group was less than the plaster casting group, while the chewing efficiency of 3D printing group was higher than the plaster casting group, the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). The difference of subjective feeling and satisfaction was also significant between the two groups(P＜0.05).

Conclusions: 3D printing to make removable denture has certain advantages in improving the accuracy of removable denture and the comfort of patients.