The project, co-funded by the European Union, develops denture manufacturing methods that can strengthen digitally manufactured dentures and use of digital imaging and virtual reality in the manufacturing process. Through this project, the development of manufacturing technology will bring added value to local oral health care operators, like dental labs. The Turku campus area’s higher education institutions Turku university and Turku university of applied sciences are responsible for the project. Those are working together to develop the oral health care research infrastructure and the national dental competence cluster, providing know-how to companies and public actors in the Southwest Finland. The future centre of expertise will serve the whole country. The project also cooperates with the Turku Innovation Center for Additive Manufacturing (TICAM). 

The possibilities of digital production methods in dental care have grown very rapidly, but the manufacturing process is not clear. There are many equipment manufacturers and manufacturing techniques, which makes it difficult to utilize them. Dentures are made in cooperation with several professional. A prosthetics team with a dentist and a dental technician must have equipment from the same manufacturer (facial arch, etc.) so that digital prostheses can be produced collaboratively. Digital imaging methods are not yet being utilised as widely as possible. E.g. The potential of virtual reality is still underutilised in the manufacture of dentures. Combining VR technology and the digital design of prosthetics is one major development target in this project. It would make the flow of information between dentists and dental laboratories more efficient. The aim of the project is to test new imaging methods and methods for visualising prosthetics. The introduction of these is believed to have a positive effect on the quality of dentures. At the same time, methods are being developed to make prostheses stronger. The oral health research group is developing digital manufacturing methods for making reinforcements. In this project, the quality of the developed reinforcement methods will also be tested using mathematical modelling. The engineers of the Comea research group use mathematical calculation programs to determine the size and correct location of the reinforcement.