FIT OF LASER SINTERED METAL RESTORATIONS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Objective: The aim of this study is to review all the published in vitro research on the fit of laser sintered metal copings compared to other fabrication techniques.
Materials and Methods: A comprehensive electronic search was performed through Google Scholar to combine the following key words: ‘3D printing’, ‘rapid prototyping’, ‘laser sintering’, ‘direct metal laser sintering’, ‘laser melting’, ‘metal coping’, ‘cobalt chromium coping’, ‘metal crown’, ‘cobalt chromium crown’, ‘internal fit’ and ‘marginal fit’. The search was limited to articles written in English. In addition, a manual search was also conducted through articles and reference lists retrieved from the electronic search and peer reviewed journals.
Results: A total of 284 articles were retrieved and only 17 met the specified inclusion criteria for the review. The selected articles had assessed marginal and ⁄ or internal fit of laser sintered metal copings against other fabrication techniques.
Conclusions: Laser sintered metal copings have a good marginal and internal fit within the clinically acceptable range suggested in the literature. Laser sintering procedure provides an efficient and rapid method for digitally designing and manufacturing complex metal structures for crowns and FPDs.