by
Mark Ollig
Last
week we traveled to Barcelona, Spain for the 2015 Mobile World Congress (MWC)
conference.
This
week’s Bits & Bytes takes us to Germany.
The
2015 International Dental Show (IDS), held last week in Cologne, Germany, is
considered the world’s largest dentistry and dental technology trade fair.
An
estimated 125,000 people attended this event to view some 2,200 exhibitors from
56 countries.
One
of the most talked about technical advancements in the dental industry appears
to be 3D printing.
A
company called Stratasys, one of the IDS exhibitors, presented their new
Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer.
Stratasys
Ltd. is headquartered in Minneapolis and in Rehovot, Israel.
Their
Facebook page company overview says they are “a leading global provider of 3D
printing and additive manufacturing solutions.”
What
captured my attention is how their new 3D printer; using advanced
triple-jetting technology, is able to create such incredibly true-to-life
dental teeth and gum models.
The
Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer makes use of a patient’s dental image file
(obtained from an intra-oral scanner device used by dentists), to create a
customized, and extremely life-like dental model with realistic teeth and gums.
Stratasys’
new 3D printer employs PolyJet technology, which includes 16-micron layer
resolution, and high-precision, 3D layered specialized photopolymers used in
the dental industry.
I
contacted the press representative for Stratasys, and was given permission to
use the following questions asked by Galit Lipkis-Beck, senior marketing
specialist at Stratasys, and the answers provided by Avi Cohen, Stratasys’
director of Global Dental.
The
following Q&A is from the Stratasys company blog:
Galit:
How does the new Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer benefit dental and
orthodontic labs?
Avi:
There is a lot of focus on intra-oral color scanning these days. Stratasys’
ability to produce ultra-realistic dental models with multiple materials and
colors in a single print is taking digital dentistry to the next level.
The
business benefits for lab owners are many: virtually any kind of dental model
can be 3D printed to create realistic visualization of the complete oral
situation, accurately and consistently. With these 3D- printed models, errors
are not only reduced, but can be mostly avoided. The results are not only more
precise, but the colorful, easy-to-understand models increase lab customer and
patient satisfaction.
Galit:
Can you tell us a little bit more about the types of applications possible with
the Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer?
Avi:
The Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer can have a significant role in implant
testing, with 3D printed dental models that mimic the look and feel of real
gingiva for accurate functional evaluation, as well as dental models with
gum-like features or a mix of rigid and gum-like components. It can also
produce a mix of rigid veneers of different dental shades for customized color
matching.
These
capabilities directly contribute to far better accuracy for the dental
practitioners, who can see every detail on the dental model. It also provides
better understanding for the patient. In other words, labs can 3D print
surgical guides directly from CBCT scan data, with high-definition tooth, root
and nerve-canal anatomy rendered in contrasting materials to help prevent
dental nerve injury.
Galit:
And finally, can you discuss the challenges that lab owners face today?
Avi:
When you think about it, dental professionals have the same objectives that all
businesses do – increase profitability, improve the customer experience, and be
better than the competition. In today’s dental environment, success does not
come easy. Procedures are becoming increasingly complex and expensive and they
do not always deliver the desired customer experience.
In
my view, to succeed, labs need to move beyond traditional methods and shift to
the latest advancements in dental methodology. Intra-oral color scanners are
becoming increasingly widespread, and 3D printing technology is part of the
solution. The new versatile Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer is part of
this end-to-end digital dentistry workflow. It improves labs day-to-day
activities, by providing a more realistic perspective to support dental
treatment, broaden the range of applications, and increase their scale of
operation.
I
appreciate Stratasys for their permission to reprint this Q&A for my
readers.
Their
blog is located at: http://blog.stratasys.com.
You
can follow them on Twitter using: @Stratasys.
See
the Stratasys Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer at: http://bit.ly/1BxxvMw.
The
website for the 2015 International Dental Show is: http://bit.ly/1xFBjXg.
No
doubt about it; we will soon be seeing dentists using advanced-technology 3D
printers like the Stratasys Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer, in their
offices for creating customized, and realistic-looking dental models for their
patients.
