How to Process Gingiva Masks before Printing?

In the production of gingiva masks, 3D printing offers advantages over traditional manual methods in terms of precision, adaptability, material utilization, production time, and patient comfort. As a result, 3D printing for gingiva masks is increasingly being adopted by dental labs and clinics. CHITUBOX Dental also supports this application type. In this article, we will explore how to use CHITUBOX Dental slicing software to process gingiva masks. To learn about processing other application types, you can explore more content in our Proficiency tutorials. For new users, it is recommended to first read the tutorial "What to Do Before Model Preparation in CHITUBOX Dental?" in the Primer to understand how to complete initial settings after launching the software, including printer and material selection, print parameter configuration, and model import.

Gingiva Masks

Implant gingiva masks (artificial gums) are simulated gums made of flexible pink resin that fit around the neck of implant analogs on models and can be repeatedly put on and taken off. Gingiva masks are indispensable tools in modern dentistry, widely used in pre-surgical simulation, prosthesis design, doctor-patient communication, and teaching demonstrations. A high-quality gingiva mask can accurately replicate the morphology of soft tissues in the patient's oral cavity, the gingival margin curve, and the tooth collar boundary, providing dentists with a realistic operating experience and thereby improving the predictability and success rate of treatment plans.

Gingiva masks produced through 3D printing technology offer significant advantages such as high precision, good adaptability, strong customizability, and high efficiency. Using CHITUBOX Dental, a professional dental 3D printing slicing software, we can effectively convert digital gum models into physical gums.

Gingiva mask printed by Kexcelled Gingiva Mask resin

Manual Processing

Gingiva masks use flexible materials, and the core of processing is to ensure the precision of key areas such as the sockets for implant analogs and the basal surface in contact with the model. This ensures accurate dimensions, clear morphology, and smoothness in areas like the implant collar and shoulder, enabling precise assistance in prosthesis placement.

Orientation

Since gingiva masks use flexible materials, which are more difficult to remove support points during post-processing, model orientation must fully consider how to minimize the supports in key areas. Additionally, due to the higher viscosity of flexible materials and greater peeling force during printing compared to rigid resins, models should be tilted to avoid generating large single-layer slices.

When orienting gingiva masks, it is recommended to first rotate the model so that the basal surface (the flat surface contacting the dental model) faces upward, then manually adjust the model so that the direction of the implant sockets is perpendicular to the built platform. This helps prevent the addition of supports on the basal surface and inside the implant sockets, which could affect the fitting accuracy of the gingiva masks with the dental model and implants. If a single gingiva mask has multiple implant sockets with inconsistent directions, consider all hole directions and choose a compromise angle for placement.

Manually adjusting the gingiva mask's orientation

For gingiva masks with horizontal shoulders in the implant socket, a small feature in CHITUBOX Dental can help users quickly orient the model according to the above principles. Use the "Flatten on Platform" function in the rotation tool, click on the horizontal shoulder plane inside the implant socket, and the model will be oriented with one click. Since the horizontal shoulder has no tilt, being parallel to the built platform ensures the socket direction is perpendicular to the platform.

Using the Flatten on Platform function for one-click model orientation

Support

For the support processing of gingiva masks, a combination of automatic and manual methods is recommended.

CHITUBOX's automatic support function can quickly add basic support structures to gingiva mask models. The following logic can be followed when adding supports automatically or manually:

No Supports in Functional Areas: Avoid overly thick supports for gingiva masks; using the Light supports with a density of 50-60% is sufficient. Also, avoid adding supports on basal surfaces, inside implant sockets, and collar areas (implant-gum interface). After automatic support generation, if supports are present in these areas, delete them and re-add supports in nearby regions.

Adjusting support positions in the key areas

Stability Guarantee: Ensure the support base area firmly attaches to the build platform to prevent detachment during printing. The parameter of The Ratio of the Base Plate to the Model's Projected Area can be set from 115% to 130%.
Effective Overhang Support: Manually add the Light supports to areas with overhangs > 1.2 mm, such as gingival papillae and free gingiva. Avoid excessive density to prevent tearing the gingiva tissue during removal.
Near-Vertical Supports: When adding supports for gingiva masks, ensure the top segments form a small angle with the Z-axis direction to avoid deformation of supports during printing, which could cause layer misalignment. The parameter of the Maximum Angle with Z-axis can be set to the minimum value.

Supports should be as vertical as possible, avoiding large angles

Layout

The layout of gingiva masks should follow these rules:

Symmetrical Arrangement: When printing more than four gingiva masks at once, mirror the models to minimize force differences between the two sides of the platform, ensuring consistent Z-axis shrinkage across models. Also, avoid placing too many models in a single print to reduce peeling force per layer.
Layout Margin: Models should be far away ≥8 mm from the platform edges to prevent insufficient resin backflow leading to deficiency at the gingival.
Avoidance of Full-Arch Printing: The full-arch models should be rotated 15-20° to offset the largest cross-section, and adjacent models should be staggered to avoid large-area peeling at the same time, which will cause vacuum adsorption and lead to edge warping.

Arrange the gingiva masks in CHITUBOX Dental

Due to the high viscosity and slow backflow of flexible materials, printing parameters for gingiva masks require specific adjustments. The lift distance for both bottom and normal layers should be ≥5 mm to prevent printing hollows or missing parts due to insufficient material backflow; reduce lift speed to 60 mm/min; extend bottom layer exposure time to 35s to increase curing strength.

After completing the above steps, click Slice to enter the preview interface and check the slice data; then click Save to store the file locally or on a storage device for transfer to the 3D printer, following the printing workflow. For network-enabled machines, use the Send to Printer function to transfer the file and initiate printing.

The above describes our recommended workflow for processing gingiva masks in CHITUBOX Dental. If you have alternative insights, feel free to share them with us at marketing@dental.chitubox.com.