Additively manufactured 3D-architected alveolar bone reconstruction scaffolds derived from extracted natural teeth: computational modelling and feasibility evaluation

The materials and design of scaffolds play a crucial role in promoting bone regeneration in alveolar bone defects. Extracted natural teeth have been considered potential graft biomaterials for treating bone defects. This study aimed to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of repairing alveolar bone defects using extracted natural teeth through biomechanical modelling additive manufacturing preparation and in vitro mineralisation experiments. Extracted natural teeth were collected to prepare standardised bioceramic slurry and evaluate the effect of digital light processing (DLP) process parameters including dispersion dosage solids loading and sintering temperatures. The results demonstrated that 50 vol% solid loading slurry with 2 wt.% dispersant dosage was regarded as the optimum slurry and 1200°C was the optimum sintering temperature. Biomechanical properties of four scaffold structures (trabecular diamond gyroid hexagonal void) were compared by Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and compression tests. The results determined that G-scaffold exhibited excellent osteogenic space maintenance and mass transport properties. In vitro mineralisation experiments were conducted to validate the apatite-forming capacity of extracted natural teeth scaffolds. In conclusion extracted natural teeth are available to fabricate bioceramic scaffolds via DLP-based additive manufacturing techniques and exhibit superior clinical potential for the repair of alveolar bone defects.