<Abstract>

Dental prostheses are personalized medical devices constructed from a variety of materials, including polymers, composites, metals and alloys, to restore and rehabilitate patients’ oral functions. Other than that, ceramics have been a preferred material for dental prostheses since the 19th century. Despite digital technologies such as CAM milling and 3D printing have been used in the past two decades, clinicians often still need to trim and adjust ill-fitting prostheses, whereas the procedures are time-consuming and can be annoying for patients, practitioners, and laboratories. Moreover, manual steps of staining and glazing are still required on the ceramic prostheses to achieve the desired aesthetic appearance. With technological advancements, it is pertinent to explore autonomous (“unmanned”) solutions that can streamline or eliminate these manual interventions. This presentation will focus on the high-accuracy fabrication of zirconia-based dental prostheses using precision 3D printing manufacturing techniques. Furthermore, innovative photon-based printing approaches for coloring zirconia prostheses will be discussed.