Advancements and future potential of volumetric additive manufacturing in dental applications

Volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM) provides a high-precision, high-surface-quality, and isotropic additive molding solution by overcoming the limitations of conventional layered printing. The technology demonstrates significant application potential across diverse domains, including hydrogel-based bioprinting, polymer-derived ceramics, and pharmaceutical fabrication. Its anticipated implementation in oral medical device production is expected to dramatically enhance manufacturing efficiency, reduce fabrication times to mere seconds, and achieve superior mechanical strength and exceptional isotropic properties. This review systematically examines current technological advancements, printable materials, algorithmic optimizations, and performance metrics for denture VAM and critically evaluates application prospects, technical advantages, and limitations in dental medicine. Conventional acrylic resins processed via VAM exhibit substantially enhanced efficiency compared to conventional techniques, with material optimization through a synergistic initiator-resin matrix design and refractive-index-matched nanofillers, enabling high mechanical integrity, low shrinkage, excellent biocompatibility, and reinforced clinical durability. Through targeted formulation adjustments in photoinitiator systems and dispersion protocols for fillers, this technology holds transformative potential for extension into dental zirconia glass-ceramic manufacturing. In the field of multi-material gradient biomimetic design, the VAM is expected to reproduce the mechanical gradient properties of natural teeth and support the anisotropic performance requirements of personalized restorations. Future research will focus on the development of high-scattering material adaptation, multiphysical field coupling optimization, and bioactive composites to further promote the clinical translation and application of VAM in dental precision medicine.