RAPID FABRICATION OF FUNCTIONAL MOUTHGUARD USING RAPID TOOLING APPROACH

This paper presents the fabrication process of custom-made mouthguard with added features of air flow channel by using rapid tooling approach. Impression process was conducted in order to produce dental stone that will be used in thermoforming process to fabricate the custom-made mouthguard. Computer-aided design (CAD) were utilized to prepare the air flow channel’s design before attaching it at the custom-made mouthguard and then forming the master pattern for the vacuum casting process. The design was printed using 3D printer machine. Two samples of mouthguard with different number of layers and thicknesses of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) sheets were produced by using thermoforming. The resulting mouthguards was analysed and it was concluded that the thicker ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) sheets will require higher melting and and also cooling temperature. Same goes to the hardness of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) will affect the melting and cooling temperature. Silicone mould was produced by using vacuum casting process. The mixture of silicone was de-gassed in vacuum to remove the presence of air bubbles that will affect the mould and product. Cold cure acrylic resin of Meliodent rapid repair was used as the material of the features part. The resulting custom-made mouthguard with added features was analysed. The acrylic resin attached with the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) sheets with the aid of monomer that applied onto the surface of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) before pouring the resin. Although the process is successfully adhered both of the materials, the strength of the bonding is still merely weak and might detached if some force applied on it. Therefore this mouthguard with added feature is not ready to be used in sports due to its weak bonding strength. Further improvements should be done to enhance the fabrication process of the custom-made mouthguard with added feature.