Use of 3D‐Printed Polylactic Acid (PLA) Casts for Surveying Exercises in Preclinical Removable Partial Denture

Problem (Why the Problem Was Addressed)Traditional stone casts, long considered the standard for preclinical removable partial denture (RPD) education, are prone to abrasion during repeated surveying, cannot be reused once worn, and generate material waste with limited sustainability benefits.As dental education increasingly adopts digital workflows, early exposure to digital casts aligns preclinical training with contemporary clinical practice and enhances students' readiness to integrate digital tools.Three-dimensional (3D) printing has been successfully applied in various dental education settings, providing alternatives to conventional casts across restorative, prosthodontic, educational purposes, and surgical disciplines [ 1,2 ].However, most reported applications involve tooth preparation exercises, with limited exploration of materials suitable for repeated surveying procedures.Recently, polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable and renewable thermoplastic commonly used in fused deposition modeling (FDM), has gained attention as an alternative material because of its cost-effectiveness and reduced environmental footprint [ 3 ].Despite these potential advantages, evidence supporting the use of PLA casts for surveying tasks in prosthodontic preclinical coursework remains limited.