Wear resistance of 3D‐printed and milled denture teeth materials for complete‐arch implant‐supported prostheses: An in vitro study

PURPOSE: The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the two-body wear resistance of milled and 3D-printed denture teeth against various CAD-CAM prosthetic materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 112 specimens were fabricated from three materials: monolithic 4 mol% yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (ArgenZ HT+ Zirconia), 3D-milled highly cross-linked polymethylmethacrylate denture teeth material (milled PMMA [mPMMA], Ivotion), and 3D-printed resin denture teeth (3D-PR, Flexcera Smile). Seven antagonist/sample groups (Z/Z (G1), Z/mPMMA (G2), Z/3D-PR (G3), mPMMA/mPMMA (G4), 3D-PR/3D-PR (G5), mPMMA/3D-PR (G6), and 3D-PR/mPMMA (G7)) were tested to evaluate the factorial inter-arch association between the three materials (N = 16 per group; antagonist (n = 8), sample (n = 8)). Specimens underwent two-body wear testing in a chewing simulator under thermocycling. Volumetric wear loss and vertical height loss were measured by laser scanning and analyzed by two-way repeated-measures ANOVA. RESULTS: All material pairings showed progressive, near-linear volumetric wear with increasing cycles. Zirconia-based groups exhibited significantly lower wear than polymeric combinations. Total height loss ranged from 0.266 mm (G1) to 1.007 mm (G6). When zirconia opposed polymers, wear was concentrated on the polymer surface (∼95%), whereas the 3D-PR/mPMMA (G7) pairing was the only group where antagonist wear exceeded sample wear. CONCLUSIONS: Material type and positioning significantly influenced wear behavior. Zirconia showed superior wear resistance, followed by mPMMA and 3D-PR. Material positioning critically affected wear distribution, with implications for vertical dimension of occlusion maintenance in implant-supported prostheses.