On pre and post-processing parameters of FDM for the development of crowns for strategic teeth of canines

In the past two decades number of studies have been reported on the use of fused deposition modeling (FDM) for the master pattern printing of dental crowns (DC) followed by metal investment casting (IC) in human dentistry applications. But hitherto little has been reported on 3D printed DC as master patterns for strategic teeth (ST) of veterinary patients (VP) (canine species). This paper outlines the effect of pre and post-processing parameters of FDM for the printing of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) master patterns for DC of canine ST. The result of the study suggests that the master pattern for DC prepared at orientation angle (90°), density (high), and post-processing temperature (90°C) are the best settings for dimensional accuracy (Δd) and surface hardness (based upon multi-factor optimization approach) for possible IC applications. The results are also supported by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis to understand the effect of stair-casing on surface roughness (Ra) profiles while printing patterns.