3D Printer Dental Applications in Orthodontic & Dental Practices

iLux Pro Dental Chairside Solution

3D printing has made inroads as a standard manufacturing process in many industries, including medical devices and dentistry. In the dental industry, 3D printing offers a flexible, on-demand alternative for manufacturing many dental products that would typically require significant manual labor. Dental offices now have the opportunity to reinvent their workflow, expedite treatment, and quickly deliver products to patients by bringing 3D printing into the office.

LuxCreo’s specialized 3D printers and dental resins provide an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use system for dental manufacturing that is designed with a production-first mindset and an intuitive workflow. LuxCreo’s 3D printers work well in a high-throughput production environment and the ease of use makes them accessible and effortless to bring into an office for chairside applications. 3D printing solutions from LuxCreo offer dental practitioners a faster way to deliver treatment.

Benefits of 3D Printing in Dental Practices

Dental practitioners see several benefits when they bring a 3D printer in-house:

Increased Income: Dental practitioners can now produce many of the dental appliances they traditionally outsource to dental labs. 3D printers for dental applications have simplified dental appliance manufacturing making it easier and faster for dental practitioners to do it themselves and increase their revenue. 3D printing dental applications are also more profitable and higher quality versus traditional manufacturing processes.

Range of products: Dental practitioners can 3D print a range of materials from a suite of specialized resins when they use the modern flexible, high-accuracy 3D printing system. Photoinitiated resins used in the latest generation LuxCreo DLP and LCD printers directly print various products, such as clear aligners, dental models, and surgical guides.

Speed: Advanced 3D printers provide an on-demand production option that requires no tooling and at speeds that enable same-day or same visit service. Complex dental products that would generally require days of manual labor, now print directly in a matter of minutes or hours. Practitioners can deliver products like clear aligners, retainers, and night guards to patients on the same day.

Accuracy: Advanced LuxCreo software combined with LuxCreo’s latest digital light processing (DLP) and advanced liquid crystal display (LCD) printers are among the most accurate 3D printers. Dental products require high accuracy to ensure patient comfort. Accuracy also eliminates the need for lengthy manual post-processing or post-print machining steps.

Build volume: If a practitioner anticipates high printer usage, a 3D printer with a larger build volume can print an entire aligner treatment plan or multiple dental devices in a single batch to save time and deliver the fastest turnaround. LuxCreo’s advanced DLP and LCD 3D printers offer some of the largest build areas, enabling high-throughput batch printing.

The benefits of modern 3D printers translate into lower costs, expedited treatment, and better outcomes for patients. Expediting products that are traditionally difficult to produce on the same day, LuxCreo is enabling same-day business models. 

Workflow for Orthodontic and Dental Practices

Dental practitioners using a 3D printing solution onsite can implement a simplified workflow that eliminates many manual processes involved in dental manufacturing. This new workflow can translate into lower costs and faster delivery of treatment compared to outsourcing. The simplified workflow would be as follows:

Scan: Users take an intraoral scan of the patient’s mouth and store it as a digital file. They then convert the scan into a solid model using an .STL file and may choose to add supports to orient the model correctly. Multiple models can also be placed in the build area for batch printing.

Print: After selecting the appropriate resin, the user sends the model files directly to the printer, and the 3D printing machine prints the devices. After printing, the user removes the models from the build area and trims any support structures.

Wash and cure: Lastly, the user quickly washes, cures, and trims the appliance before providing it to the patient. The gloveless process steps are completed in minutes and elevate patient satisfaction with same-day service, reduces follow-up visits for fit adjustment, and frees up time for dental offices to see more patients. 

The simplified workflow has much fewer steps than in traditional dental manufacturing.

Advanced printers, like the specialized dental 3D printers from LuxCreo, streamline the workflow and support a gloveless process. In addition, a bundled software suite makes the integrated solution extremely easy to use, meaning staff requires less training than other 3D printers on the market. Eliminating manual processes and minimizing training, dental offices can save time and costs.

LuxCreo’s 3D Printers, Dental Resins, and Software

LuxCreo offers a comprehensive and integrated dental solution of 3D printers, advanced dental resins, and a software bundle to help dental professionals bring 3D printing into their practice. The major advantage of LuxCreo’s system over competitors is the intuitive machine interface, bundled software package, and high-performing resins that are designed to work together, saving time as simplifying digital dentistry to deliver with the highest accuracy and production speed.

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Dental 3D Printers

LuxCreo’s 3D printers use a patented LEAP process in the DLP system, providing the highest accuracy to produce dental devices with the most comfortable fit for patients. The Lux 3+ 3D printers are built for high throughput and large batch printing of dental appliances. The IiLux and iLux Pro desktop printers are designed for lower volume production at dental offices. LuxCreo’s bundled software package makes the printers the easiest to use on the market, while reducing post-processing steps and delivering the speed and accuracy for same-day turnaround time for dental appliances.

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3D Printing Software

LuxFlow Dental helps dental offices navigate the 3D printing process. With an intuitive interface, users optimize the placement and orientation of solid models on the build platform to ensure maximum accuracy. Supports are generated automatically by the software, allowing high throughput printing in any orientation.

LuxAlign Dental creates aligners, retainers, and night guards from scan/dental models in less than four minutes. Users can configure aligner thickness, gap, and other parameters. LuxAlign Dental generates the final clear aligner model within minutes and is ready for printing in the LuxCreo dental printers.

LuxCreo Simplifies 3D Printing for Dental Professionals

Dental and orthodontic practices looking to improve patient satisfaction with higher quality appliances, faster delivery, and a better bottom line should consider LuxCreo’s 3D printing solutions for their production process for dental appliances. LuxCreo makes the production of dental appliances easy for dental practices by providing advanced FDA-approved resin materials, flexible 3D printers with an intuitive user interface, and specialized software to simplify and speed up digital dentistry. Practices reduce costs and production times and improve patient outcomes with LuxCreo’s advanced line of dental 3D printers.

LuxCreo’s patented LEAP™ (Light Enabled Additive Production) process enables fast and accurate 3D-printed dental appliances from a range of specialized FDA-approved resins. Dental labs can take advantage of flexible on-demand production in-house or in a Smart Factory with cloud-connected 3D printers. For more information on how our services can improve your supply chain and manufacturing processes, visit our contact page or call (650) 336-0888.