ACKURETTA DENTIQ

Reliable And Intuitive Chairside 3d Printer For Dental Professionals

The dental world is seeing a drastic change – digital dentistry is raising the standards of what patients are looking for, and what practices are providing. New and emerging technologies are allowing dentists to care for their patients like never before. Creating a mock-up in just a few hours. Producing a crown and inserting it in one session. Delivering a night guard in a fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost.

Dentists are increasingly switching from an analog to a digital system, granting them new ways to optimize their practice and improve their patient experience. 

3D printing in dentistry has come a long way in the last decade, and there are more new technologies, AI integrations, and resins on the market than ever before. So what happens when you combine dentistry with 3D printing and AI technology? A 3D printing ecosystem that is more efficient, more costs-effective, and produces higher-quality results than ever before. And at Ackuretta, we are leading the way with products that guarantee a user-friendly, validated workflow, right out of the box.

What can 3D Printing do for you?

3D printing in dentistry offers many benefits over traditional practices. Instead of taking a traditional impression of your patient’s mouth, which can take up to 15 minutes and can be extremely uncomfortable, you can use an intraoral scanner and have the same result in under 5 minutes, with a higher level of accuracy, and significantly less discomfort. Many dentists have been promoting the benefits of 3D printing, and what it always comes down to is added time spent with their patients.

Dr. Russell Schafer – the owner of NOLA Dentures and General Dentistry, based in the United States – has many years of experience with both analog and digital dentistry, and frequently uses Ackuretta’s DENTIQ dental 3D printer. For him, there is no comparison when it comes to time-saving, cost, and quality. More people are able to incorporate dental 3D printing into their practices because it is easy to learn, has unparalleled accuracy, allows you to increase your patient base, and helps you engage more with your current patients.

“One of the biggest advantages of adopting a digital workflow is reducing the time spent on producing a crown, splint, or denture, and maximizing contact with patients.”

Dr. Russell Schafer

In addition to spending more time with patients, 3D printing gives dentists the ability to bring in more revenue and increase their return on investment (ROI). Giving a patient a ‘try-on’ smile, for example, grants them the opportunity to see the smile they could really have with a complete restoration.

A tangible and concrete look – as opposed to a traditional computer-generated image of the potential results of a restoration – can sell a case, and encourage a patient to adopt a treatment.

Starting with the production of night guards and models allows practices to gain a fast return on investment when they purchase a 3D printing ecosystem like Ackuretta’s, before then moving on to more complex applications that require more time to learn and master. Applications that are currently being produced with dental 3D printing include crowns, bridges, splints, night guards, aligners, dentures, surgical guides, models, castables, gingiva masks, IBTs (indirect bonding trays), and impression trays. But the future options are limitless.

The next obvious steps with dental 3D printing are long-term temporary and permanent restorations. Some resins on the market are already TGA-approved for such applications – Saremco CROWNTEC. Ackuretta’s DENTIQ dental 3D printer is completely validated and compatible with all of these resins, so you can take advantage of all the possibilities they have to offer. And Ackuretta’s team is always testing and validating new resins as they become available. This means that as the market continues to expand, your dental 3D printing workstation will evolve with it, ready to produce anything you need.

What do you need to know about 3D Printing?

3D printing has many applications – in manufacturing, engineering, architecture, aeronautics, and beyond –but when it comes to dental applications, there are a few primary considerations. First, your print must be biocompatible – the health and safety of your patient are essential.

Second, it must be extremely accurate and precise. Accuracy refers to how close the actual print is to the design and intended output. Precision refers to the repeatability of consistent results over time. Your printer is very precise, for instance, if when you program a certain application, it can print that application many times over, and there will be no discrepancies in the measurements of the final print, time and time again.

So how do you get accurate and precise prints? It starts with the impression of your patient’s mouth. Traditionally, a dentist uses dental putty which is placed into a tray to take a physical impression of the mouth. With a digital workflow, that same result can be achieved through a 3D intraoral scanner, which creates a digital imprint.

The next step is CAD design, which can be done either inhouse if you have a specialist who can design it for you, or outsourced to either a company or an individual designer. Once your design is complete, you can import your design into CAM slicing software.

A key step in determining the outcome of your print is which printer you will use. This printer determines what CAM software is available, and what resins are compatible.

With an open system like Ackuretta’s DENTIQ dental 3D printer, you can pick from over 150 pre-validated materials. And with ALPHA 3D and soon-to-be-launched ALPHA AI, special features help you orient your print and create supports so that you have a successful final result.

The post-printing phase involves cleaning and curing your final print – you must ensure that you follow the proper instructions. Each step in the process is essential to achieve a final application that is successful and biocompatible.

What is a ‘Validated Workflow’ and why does it matter?

3D printing resins are hazardous in their liquid form. For the final printed result to be biocompatible and safe to insert into your patient’s mouth, you need to make sure that each step in the printing process is done correctly.

The resin is made safe by being cured through a process of polymerization using UV light. This happens in part during the printing process, and then during the final curing stage when the print is placed inside a curing unit for a designated amount of time, using a specific UV wavelength.

UV ovens are designed specifically for dental applications, and ones like the Ackuretta CURIE are designed with 360-degree light distribution, have multiple wavelengths available, and are pre-loaded with a resin library. Having multiple wavelengths available allows the UV light to permeate deeper into the print, ensuring it is fully cured.

A process is said to be validated when the settings at each step have been optimized to achieve a consistent desired output. The instruments used in the process - the printer and UV chamber – are said to be calibrated. Each step in Ackuretta’s digital dental workflow is validatedthe specifications for each resin are downloaded into the printer and UV oven – so all you need to do is select the resin and press start. Once the time is up, you can be certain that your print is safe for your patient.

For workflows that are not fully validated, getting started is more challenging.

“With some systems, determining the optimal settings for printing success with each unique resin and application takes a lot of trial and error,” shares Dr. Russell Schafer, who has worked with a wide variety of products and workflows, and enjoys the many benefits the Ackuretta 3D printing ecosystem offers him.

Why start 3D printing now?

Dental 3D printing has become wellestablished in the industry. Many practices and labs have adopted a partial or full digital workflow, which has provided many benefits, as well as learning opportunities and room for professional growth. With the constant improvements in the strength and quality of resins on the market – an increasing number of which have been granted FDA approval – as well as the numerous resources and platforms available to learn about and get support for digital dentistry, now is the perfect time to delve into dental 3D printing.

And as Dr. Schafer shared in an interview with Ackuretta, “By adopting a digital workflow and creating more time to focus on faster and improved care, dentists are able to expand their offices. And marketing strategies that promote a more streamlined workflow for patients can add top- and bottom-line revenue for dentists.”

About Ackuretta

Ackuretta is a global manufacturer of high-precision 3D printing solutions for dental professionals. With validated and calibrated workflows and an open system, as well as an industry-leading 2-year warranty and outstanding training and customer support, Ackuretta is a unique, competitive, and accessible player in the industry.

By Ackuretta Editorial Team