End-to-End Digital Dentistry: New Dental Materials, Applications, and Integrations

March 17, 2017

Walk into a dental lab or clinic today, and you’ll find a completely different set of tools than you would have just few years ago. Dentistry is well on its way to fully embracing digital workflows, replacing messy alginate impressions with digital scans and complicated manual techniques with computer-aided manufacturing.

This should come as no surprise. Every set of teeth is unique, meaning that every dental appliance has to be custom-made. The need for mass customization, and the small size of the final products, makes this a perfect application for 3D printing. While material properties were a barrier to broader application of this technology, new biocompatible materials are enabling dentists to 3D print a growing range of products.

To date, Formlabs dental users have completed over 150,000 prints. Today, with the launch of two new Dental Resins, Formlabs is greatly expanding the range of dental products that the Form 2 can produce. With prints every bit as accurate as larger machines that cost $75,000 or more, the Form 2 is increasingly the go-to 3D printer for the dental professionals.

Meet the New Resins

Formlabs’ new dental resins add a range of new capabilities to Formlabs printers, including crown and bridge models, splints, retainers, and soon dentures.

Dental Model Resin

Designed for crown and bridge models with removable dies, Dental Model Resin is a high precision, high accuracy resin. Print crisp margins and contacts within ± 35 microns and removable dies with consistently tight fit. A smooth, matte surface finish and color similar to gypsum make it easy to switch from analog to digital model production.

Dental LT Clear Resin

A Class IIa biocompatible resin, Dental LT Clear’s high resistance to fracture and wear make it ideal for splints, retainers, and other direct-printed orthodontic devices. This clear material polishes to high optical transparency for beautiful final products.

3D Printed Dentures

We’re pushing the boundaries of digital dentistry and developing the first integrated, end-to-end workflow for manufacturing high-quality 3D printed dentures. Clinical studies and workflow tests are currently in development at Formlabs and partner dental labs, with the new biocompatible Denture Base and Teeth Resins coming in fall 2017.