Development of Customized Biodegradable Mesh Membrane for Dental Bone Graft Using Three-dimensional Printing Technique

Abstract

In the field of dental implants, bone regeneration is needed for a patient with insufficient bone for an implant placement. A mesh membrane is used as a barrier during the augmentation to mechanically stabilise and isolate bone grafts to generate and maintain space for the migration of pluripotential and osteogenic cells. However, the existing membranes, collagen-based and titanium-based, have major problems regarding unfavourable mechanical stability and the need for membrane removal surgery, respectively. Furthermore, these commercial membranes need adjustment to fit the curvature and outline of the bone graft. To overcome such problems, this research was conducted to develop customized biodegradable mesh membranes for dental bone grafts from magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography using three-dimensional (3D) printing. A biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer was used. Various designs of mesh membrane and fabrication procedure were studied. First, a mesh membrane was designed and customized by using a 3D model. Then, an inverse compression mould was made of an acrylic-based resin using LCD-based stereolithography printing technique. Next, the PCL sheet was placed and compressed in the designed mould to create the customized membrane. The results show that the customized membrane prototype exhibited good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mechanical properties. The results suggest that the developed membrane customization and fabrication procedure could be practically useful for dental bone graft application.