3D Printers

Stratasys' New Dental 3D Printers Fill Overlooked Cavity

Stratasys continues to expand its presence in the field of digital dentistry this week.  After establishing a Dental Advisory Board, to oversee the company’s dental 3D printing division, Stratasys has announced the release of two low cost 3D printers for digital dentistry.  The new machines are, according to the company, the “highest precision wax 3D printers available to the dental industry.

Stratasys new 3D dental printers On May 17 at the LMT Lab Day West Show in California, Stratasys will unveil its CrownWorx and FrameWorx 3D printers for the production of wax-ups, bridges, and denture frameworks.  Using wax deposition modeling (WDM), a 3D jetting technology, the printers can produce wax objects with, the company claims, “no residue, material shrinkage, cracking or expansion” so that dental labs can cast a variety of dental solutions to fit their needs..  Due to the capability of 3D printing to manufacture one-of-a-kind, personally tailored items, the machines can produce wax ups for crown, bridge, coping, and denture frameworks.

The CrownWorx 3D Printer has been designed specifically for the production of wax objects for casting crowns, bridges, and copings.  The FrameWorx 3D Printer is designed for 3D printing denture wax-ups.  While both use WDM to jet micro-drops of Stratasys’ TrueCast material, the FrameWorx machine is more advanced, spraying TrueSupport material quickly around the TrueCast object to form support structures for more complex objects, like dentures.  Upon printing, this support material is dissolved to leave a smooth TrueCast object in tact.  The two materials are unique, too, in that they mimic real wax and are 100% castable.

Stratasys Director of Global Dental, Avi Cohen, explains the benefit of the new machines to dental labs, “These wax 3D printers and new materials are an ideal fit for small labs interested in upgrading dental casting technology. We believe dental labs adopting these 3D printers will benefit from the automated and digitized workflows, enabling them to cut costs while producing more restorations. These systems complement our broad system portfolio, which includes large dental 3D printers.

Stratasys new machines can give dental labs the ability to replace traditional techniques, like wax dripping, to create detailed and precise wax objects for casting dental solutions, potentially saving them a great deal of time as attested to in the video below.  By extending their reach into the dental sector with the new machines and Dental Advisory Board, Stratasys is establishing itself as an industry leader in the field of digital dentistry.

Source: Stratasys