For happier clients, less waiting and more effective treatments, dentists and dental labs are embracing digital dentistry with 3D printing.
Learn about precise surgical guides, a lab that eliminated outsourcing with the help of an Objet 3D Printer and more in the case studies below.
Going “all-in” with digital dentistry
Bringing the digital CAD/CAM solutions from 3Shape and Objet together in a seamless workflow has enabled Allure Dental Studio to move ahead of their competition.
The Challenge
Allure had long ago declared its vision to become their market’s most highly resourceful dental lab through using the most advanced technologies, and it was time to take the next step. To do this they needed to select the right investments – including choosing a system that would solidly back their promises and business objectives for many years to come. In order to fulfill the company ambitions for growth, Allure Dental Studio wanted a system that enabled faster throughput without compromising the high standards of their services especially when dealing with the quality- minded dentists who are the majority of their customers. Additionally, this Increased productivity must come from improved workflows and not by expanding their technician staff and facilities.
Surveys showed that their dentist-clients preferred to do all their lab business in one place. Therefore, Allure needed to firmly establish their position as a self-sustained dental laboratory offering the widest spectrum of dental indications. For Allure, outsourcing parts of the workflow was not an option. They wanted full control of the complete process –from the dentist’s initial order, to designing the restoration, and ending with final manufacturing. Allure was adamant about fulfilling their promises, and therefore they needed to command all phases of their business.
The Solution
Allure’s goals called for “best-of-breed” solutions – the best CAD-design tools and the best manufacturing equipment. But high quality alone wouldn’t be enough – the “best” components must be able to work with each other in a seamless digital workflow. 3Shapes’s Dental System™ was Allure’s choice for 3D scanning and CAD-design of restorations. 3Shape’s solution offers the market’s largest number of indications, and initial trials demonstrated its highly initiative workflows that Allure’s technicians could understand easily and complete at high speed. 3Shape’s Dental System™ included the 3Shape D700 3D scanner, the DentalDesigner™ CAD design software, and 3Shape’s CAMbridge™ manufacturing preparation CAM software.
For the actual manufacturing process, Allure selected Objet’s Eden 260V™ 3D Printing System. The printer’s fine-detail printing, layer thickness and smooth surface output made it exceptionally suitable for the manufacture of dental restorations. To top it all, the steps for preparing and starting manufacture on Objet’s Eden 260V™ 3D Printing System were fully integrated and controllable within 3Shape’s DentalSystem™. The full system’s two components could communicate perfectly without involving extra steps or overhead.
The Results
By teaming up 3Shape’s Dental System™ and Objet’s Eden 260V™ 3D Printing System, Allure Dental Studio was able to realize a complete digital workflow for in-house fabrication of models, abutments, coping/crowns and bridges of any size or combination. With efficient in-house manufacturing and the many new indication possibilities, Allure could suddenly present a greater variety of dental solutions to their dentist clients. While before they had to reject or outsource enquiries, they basically could now affirm production capability for every restoration order that came in.
Keeping up with the many new orders was not a problem. For example, using the 3Shape AbutmentsDesigner™ they could simultaneously create customized abutments, coping/ frameworks and crowns and print them together flawlessly with Objet’s Eden 260V™ 3D Printing System. They reduced the design process by 80%, and it suddenly took them only 1 single hour to print a full mouth case on the Objet Eden 260V™ Printing System instead of 6 hours or more through milling. The intuitive 3Shape Dental System™ design tools enabled Allure to optimize their resources by bringing non-technicians into the workflow in tasks that they had never before thought possible. This sky-rocketed the daily production yield per dental technician on their staff. Allure’s investment was rapidly returned through more business, faster throughput and operation costs reductions.
