Photo-curable resin compositions and method of using the same in three-dimensional printing for manufacturing artificial teeth and denture base

1. A composition comprising:

a light-curable mixture comprising:

0-50% by weight of a poly(methyl methacrylate)/methyl methacrylate;

5-20% by weight of at least one kind of multifunctional aliphatic (meth)acrylate;

5-40% by weight of at least one kind of aliphatic urethane (meth)acrylate oligomer;

25-65% by weight of at least one kind of difunctional bisphenol-A methacrylate;

0.1 to 5% by weight of at least one kind of a photoinitiator;

0.05 to 2% by weight of at least one kind of light stabilizer; and

0.1 to 3% by weight of color pigment based on the total weight of the composition,

wherein viscosity of the composition is less than about 700 centipoise (cps) at 70° C. such that the composition is used in a three-dimensional printer,

wherein flexural strength of specimens printed by the three-dimensional printer using the composition and post cured by a curing machine is greater than 50 MPa,

wherein molecular weight of the poly(methyl methacrylate) is between about 10,000 to about 400,000 g/mol, and

wherein the composition is used for manufacturing artificial teeth and dentures using the three-dimensional printer.

2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the viscosity of the composition is greater than about 100 centipoise (cps) at 70° C.

3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein viscosity of the mixture of poly(methyl methacrylate)/methyl methacrylate is less than 10000 cps at 25° C.

4. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising a light-photo-polymerization initiator, wherein the light-photo-polymerization initiator comprises acylphosphine oxide compounds.

5. A composition comprising:

a light-curable mixture comprising:

0-25% by weight of a poly(methyl methacrylate)/methyl methacrylate;

5-15% by weight of at least one kind of multifunctional aliphatic (meth)acrylate;

5-35% by weight of at least one kind of aliphatic urethane (meth)acrylate oligomer;

30-60% by weight of at least one kind of difunctional bisphenol-A methacrylate;

0.1 to 3.5% by weight of at least one kind of a photoinitiator;

0.05 to 1% by weight of at least one kind of light stabilizer; and

0.1 to 2% by weight of color pigment based on the total weight of the composition,

wherein viscosity of the composition is less than about 700 centipoise (cps) at 70° C. such that the composition is used in a three-dimensional printer,

wherein flexural strength of specimens printed by the three-dimensional printer using the composition and post cured by a curing machine is greater than 50 MPa,

wherein molecular weight of the poly(methyl methacrylate) is between about 10,000 to about 400,000 g/mol, and

wherein the composition is used for manufacturing artificial teeth and dentures using the three-dimensional printer.

6. The composition of claim 5 , wherein the viscosity of the composition is greater than about 100 centipoise (cps) at 70° C.

7. The composition of claim 5 , further comprising 2.5-12% by weight of at least one kind of surface modified silica-based fine particles.

8. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the surface modified silica-based fine particles comprise non-reactive and reactive silica particles that are surface-modified by a surface modifying agent.

9. The composition of claim 8 , wherein the surface modifying agent comprises compounds containing methacryloxy groups.

10. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the surface modified silica-based fine particles have an average particle size that is less than 200 nm.

11. A method of printing a denture using the composition of claim 1 , the method comprising:

stacking layers of the light curable mixture; and

curing the stacked layers one-by-one using the three-dimensional printer based on Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) generated information that is related to the denture to be manufactured.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the three-dimensional printer is operated according to a digital light processing method or a stereolithography method.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein:

the stacked layers are cured based on computer generated information that is related to the denture; and

the information comprises a digital model generated based on a dental impression of a patient's mouth and a Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) design.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the denture comprises a printed denture base portion and a printed artificial teeth portion formed as a single body.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising assembling the denture base and the artificial teeth with dental adhesives after printing the denture base and the artificial teeth separately.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the denture comprises a partial denture and a full denture.

17. A method of printing a denture using the composition of claim 5 , the method comprising:

stacking layers of the light curable mixture; and

curing the stacked layers one-by-one using the three-dimensional printer based on Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) generated information that is related to the denture to be manufactured.

18. The composition of claim 1 , wherein flexural modulus of the composition is between about 1500 Mpas and 2450 Mpas.

19. A composition comprising:

a light-curable mixture comprising:

0-50% by weight of a poly(methyl methacrylate)/methyl methacrylate;

5-20% by weight of at least one kind of multifunctional aliphatic (meth)acrylate;

5-40% by weight of at least one kind of aliphatic urethane (meth)acrylate oligomer;

25-65% by weight of at least one kind of difunctional bisphenol-A methacrylate;

0.1 to 5% by weight of at least one kind of a photoinitiator;

0.05 to 2% by weight of at least one kind of light stabilizer; and

0.1 to 3% by weight of color pigment based on the total weight of the composition,

wherein viscosity of the composition is less than about 700 centipoise (cps) at 70° C. such that the composition is used in a three-dimensional printer,

wherein flexural strength of specimens printed by the three-dimensional printer using the composition and post cured by a curing machine is greater than 50 MPa,

wherein molecular weight of the poly(methyl methacrylate) is between about 10,000 to about 400,000 g/mol, and

wherein the viscosity of the composition is greater than about 100 centipoise (cps) at 70° C.