This month's Product Roundup for Dental Lab Products takes a look at 16 3D printing solutions currently available.
Just a few short years ago, 3D printers were considered a luxury by some and a down-the-road technology to others. But now 3D printing technology is having a huge impact on many industries and the dental lab industry is no exception. Additive manufacturing is the latest piece of the digital dentistry workflow that has become a smart business choice for dental labs. It combines high quality with low costs and greatly streamlined workflows. The 3D printer market has been expanding rapidly, bringing this technology within reach for more businesses.
There appears to be an endless array of things that labs can accomplish with this technology, so if you haven’t yet gotten into 3D printing, it may be time to do so. Here’s a look at 16 3D printing solutions currently available.
Form 3B
Key benefits include high throughput and accurate prints with incredible detail and finish. The ultrareliable Form 3B also provides users with affordable biocompatible materials, validated workflows, and dental-specific support and warranty.
Comes equipped with easy-to-use software that doesn’t require a license, enabling anyone to learn and use the system right away with consistent results.
With quarterly software updates, a Form 3B ordered today will continue to deliver new applications and functionality in the future.
From CAD through postcuring, the PrograPrint 3D Printer, PrograPrint Clean, PrograPrint Cure, and ProArt™ Print materials are engineered to work together to maximize production and minimize guesswork throughout the system’s validated printing, cleaning, and curing workflow from start to finished product.
At the center of the system is the PrograPrint PR5 printer. Its 4 million pixel resolution, with 49-µm pixel size and 50- to 100-µm-layer thickness, makes it suitable for printing precision models, splints, and surgical guides as well as wax inlays, onlays, crowns, and bridges for pressing or casting.
This complete 3D printing workflow for the broadest range of applications includes certified NextDent 3D printing materials and trusted connections with leading dental software suppliers.
The NextDent 5100 facilitates high-speed 3D printing for dental devices and fixtures. It enables dental labs, clinics, and production centers to produce dentures, crowns and bridges, models, surgical guides, orthodontic splints, and trays with enhanced speed, precision, and efficiency.
It is compatible with state-of-the-art intraoral scanning and software solutions to deliver more precise results.
Built using Structo’s proprietary Mask Stereolithography technology, the Structo DentaForm is designed for high throughput, round-the-clock production of clear aligner, orthodontic, and dental models. It can print up to 10 arches (horizontal) in 30 minutes.
As a validated technology partner of 3Shape’s clear aligner enterprise solution, DentaForm is also scalable from a single standing unit to a completely automated digital factory of the future.
By incorporating various automation elements, users will be able to automate almost every part of the manufacturing process.
A compact, high-precision, high-speed 3D printer that can be used for a wide range of applications using DLP technology, the DMG 3Demax 3D printer is part of the DMG complete, integrated 3D Digital Printing Solution.
With ultrafine resolution and a large build plate, it can accurately produce multiple devices at once, ranging from surgical guides to burn-out casting molds, mouth guards to occlusal splints, crowns and bridges, physical models, and more.
Patented Force Feedback technology accelerates printing by up to 50%; misprints are minimized thanks to a highly sensitive load cell.
Creates faster turnaround times so dental labs can streamline operations, fulfill more cases, and grow new business without further capital expense. Backed by more than 500,000 color combinations, the multimaterial 3D printer produces extremely high-resolution, patient-specific models with precise accuracy.
A large build tray can print 6 materials simultaneously—increasing case volume and managing a full range of applications in a single print job.
Combining multi-materials and full-color realism, the J720 has the potential to increase patient acceptance of case presentations.
cara® Print 4.0 offers dental professionals a faster, more economical method of producing polymer-based dental appliances in-house. It is said to be more competitively priced than other 3D printers on the market, while still meeting all accuracy requirements.
DLP makes it quicker, more economical and more accurate than laser-light technology.
The intelligent calculation of the illumination sequence and the mechanical movement of the z-axis—combined with the unique properties of the tray window—speed up the manufacturing process significantly.
The newest release in the E Series line of compact desktop 3D printers for dental offices as well as dental labs, the EvoDent E120 is described as accurate, affordable, fast, and easy to use.
Features a resolution of 1920 x 1080 HD and a native pixel of 62.5 µm.
Also available is the EvoDent E140 specifically designed for surgical (drill) guide and ortho applications offering a larger build envelope and larger native pixel.
The PRO 4K large-format 3D printers from Asiga are available through Whip Mix, and the open-material printers for 385-nm resins feature custom-engineered optics for precision pixel placement, reliability, and a superfast print mode for large batches of virtually all resins.
The printers utilize Asiga’s SPS™ Smart Positioning System Technology that ensures that the build platform is in the correct position when forming each layer, providing repeatable accuracy and production continuity.
Available in both 65-μm (176.5 x 99 x 200-mm build volume) and 80-μm (217 x 122 x 200-mm build volume) resolution versions.
The printer is designed to increase accuracy while saving valuable time and materials, andis dedicated to 3D printing dental applications.
It features the ability to 3D print Valpast® partials and appliances. The Arfona lab is said to be the world’s first and only 3D printing and digital design center for Valplast Flexible Partials.
Delivered with the Simplify3D software. Arfona’s approach to digital dentistry is simple: Take the world’s best flexible partial material, combine it with cutting edge 3D printing and post processing technologies, and build the infrastructure to support the world’s largest Valplast print farm.
DENTIQ from Ackuretta is a high-precision chairside 3D printer designed to provide a premium ownership experience for every type of user.
Equipped with auto-calibration and 100+ precalibrated materials, it offers a simple learning curve for beginners, while providing a high level of accuracy and consistency.
Features remote diagnostics for machine repair, easy component replacement, a built-in vat cleaning function, and a 2-year warranty.
An open-material platform serves a multitude of applications.
DENTIQ now is also available from Primotec (primotecusa.com).
Ackuretta
sales@ackuretta.com
Varseo XS 3D printing system
Cost-effective, high-resolution DLP 3D printer with outstanding detail accuracy.
Features a building speed independent of the number of elements to be produced.
Handy building platform—printing of up to 20 crowns or 2 large-span bridges with up to 7 units.
Compatible with the following materials: VarseoSmile Crown plus; VarseoSmile Temp; and VarseoWax CAD/Cast.
Replaceable resin tank allows easy material change.
EnvisionTEC’s DK4 Pro high-resolution 4K desktop 3D printer provides the fastest print speed for a standard DLP printer and is designed to deliver extremely accurate parts with fine detail.
Compatible with all EnvisionTEC DLP resins for the dental industry, which provides essential solutions for applications from models to full dentures and everything in between.
Designed for chairside and small labs, featuring a build envelope of 148 mm x 83 mm x 110 mm (5.8 x 3.3 x 4.3 in), an XY native resolution of 50 μm, and a patented enhanced XY resolution of 25 μm.
SprintRay’s comprehensive 3D printing solutions will now have Henry Schein offer its full portfolio of 3D printers, including the line of SprintRay Pro printers.
SprintRay’s Frictionless Workflow solutions cover every step of the dental 3D printing process, including Pro95 Desktop 3D Printer, a user-friendly desktop printer for the in-office manufacturing needs of the modern digital clinic, Pro55 Desktop 3D Printer, an ultrahigh-resolution workhorse printer designed for restorative applications, Pro Wash/Dry, Pro Cure, Dashboard 2.0 & Design Services, and 3D Printing Materials Library.
Carbon’s unique solutions, powered by Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™ (DLS™) technology, have the versatility to cater to all dental production needs.
Allows dental labs to print accurate, high-quality dental models up to 10 times faster than other methods. By increasing manufacturing throughput, Carbon enables high-volume production for thermoforming aligners and provides superior results in the production of splints, surgical guides, castable C&B and RPD frameworks, temp crowns and bridges, indirect bonding trays, and premium Lucitone Digital Print™ dentures.
AccuFab-D1 is a desktop DLP 3D printer specially developed for use in digital dentistry.
Comes with SHINING 3D’s own optimized data planning and printing control software designed to ensure a user-friendly and intuitive workflow.
AccuFab-D1 features high print resolution and an outstanding efficiency; it can be used in multiple applications, maintaining great accuracy. This is the ideal printer solution for all dental customers wishing to enter the era of digital production.