Advances in Stereolithography Resins: A Critical Review on Chemistry, Process Optimisation, and Dental Applications

Stereolithography (SLA) additive manufacturing is a popular means of decentralised manufacturing in the medical and dental world. Because the methods for designing and producing desired properties are not common knowledge, researchers may spend time developing suboptimal formulae. The review focuses on fundamental resin chemistry and process optimisation in designing formulations that can achieve high accuracy, varying stiffness, and antibacterial applications through understanding and manipulating the properties of monomers, oligomers, photoinitiators, and additives. It synthesises the existing development of SLA technology and innovations that improve printing rate and quality. It also evaluates the chemical principles in photopolymerisation, a foundation of SLA, and the trends in chemical compositions that influence material properties and their application in dental applications through the lens of biocompatibility and resin chemistry, with comparisons in existing specific examples such as implants, orthodontic brackets, and restorative composites using specifically SLA-made zirconia. Access to the formulation development toolbox will inspire further development of SLA use in dentistry, addressing the critical gap of a lack of systematic reviews that dentists and dental researchers can reference. Controlling polymer properties will further advance SLA resin use for dentists with greater accuracy and efficiency.