Led by mechanical engineering researchers, a UT Dallas team has slashed 3D printing post-processing times from days to minutes, paving the way for one-visit permanent crowns.
For anyone who has ever needed a dental crown, the traditional routine is all too familiar: temporary caps, messy impressions, and weeks of waiting for a permanent restoration to be manufactured and shipped from a lab.
While same-day dental crowns exist today, patients often face a tradeoff between speed and strength. Current same-day 3D-printed restorations rely on weaker ceramic resins. On the other hand, permanent crowns made from zirconia, which is the gold standard material for durability and natural appearance, are typically milled from solid blocks. This milling process limits design complexity and risks micro-cracking the restoration.
Now, a research team at The University of Texas at Dallas is bridging that gap. Led by Dr. Majid Minary, professor of mechanical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, and mechanical engineering doctoral student Mahdi Mosadegh, the team has developed a breakthrough technology that enables same-day, chair-side, 3D-printed zirconia dental restorations.
Breaking the Bottleneck
Until now, the main obstacle to 3D printing permanent zirconia crowns was a time-consuming post-processing step known as debinding. After a crown is 3D-printed, heat must be applied gradually to burn off the binding resin before the zirconia can be sintered into a hardened solid. Historically, debinding required anywhere from 20 to 100 hours, because heating it too quickly would cause trapped gas to fracture the restoration.
The UT Dallas team solved this fundamental challenge. By combining enhanced heat transfer, porous graphite felt that exceeds 2,550°F, and a vacuum system to safely draw out escaping gases, they slashed debinding time from days to under 30 minutes. The result is a process that allows a dentist to custom 3D-print a permanent, high-strength zirconia crown for a patient in just a few hours during a single office visit.
Moving Beyond the Lab: The NSF I-Corps Experience
Solving a complex engineering bottleneck is a major accomplishment, but translating that scientific discovery into a scalable, commercial product requires a completely different skill set. To navigate the commercialization process, Mosadegh participated in the Regional and National NSF I-Corps Programs. The team received strategic commercialization guidance from Steve Grangerich, Senior Advisor for Innovation & Commercialization at UT Dallas, who helped mentor the team and shape their go-to-market strategy throughout their I-Corps journey.
Armed with the I-Corps customer discovery framework, the team stepped out of the laboratory and into the dental industry ecosystem. Mosadegh conducted over 100 customer discovery interviews across the entire value chain, conversing directly with prosthodontists, dental lab owners, equipment suppliers, and distributors.
“I-Corps taught me that great technology alone isn’t enough; you have to deeply understand who needs it and why,” said Mosadegh. “After over 100 conversations with dental professionals, I came back not just with market insights, but with new research ideas I never would have discovered in the lab alone. It expanded both the impact and the depth of our work.”
Through these conversations, the team gained critical clarity on how practitioners integrate restorative technologies into their existing workflows, ensuring their innovation aligns directly with market demand.
What’s Next for the Team
The commercialization journey for Dr. Minary’s team is gaining strong momentum. Supported by a $550,000 NSF Partnerships for Innovation – Technology Translation (PFI-TT) award, the team is actively advancing the technology toward clinical validation and regulatory review.
They are collaborating closely with key industry partners, including Pan-AM Dental Laboratory, 3DCeram Sinto Inc., and practicing prosthodontist Dr. Amirali Zandinejad.
As The University of Texas at Dallas officially joins the NSF I-Corps Hub: Southwest as a partner institution, stories like Dr. Minary and Mahdi Mosadegh’s highlight the immense value of bringing I-Corps training to regional innovators, turning cutting-edge research into real-world economic and healthcare impact.
