Workflow for Direct Clear Aligner Manufacturing
LuxCreo simplifies aligner and retainer manufacturing with direct clear printing in 4 simple steps using LuxCreo’s iLux Pro and Lux 3D+ 3D printers and DNG resin.
Dental labs and orthodontic offices deliver same day clear aligners and retainers while saving 90% on materials and labor hours versus traditional 3D printing solutions.
Learn more about how you can simplify digital dentistry workflow, achieve same day delivery by eliminating the need for 3D printed dental models and thermoforming process.
Scale your Clear 3D Printed Aligner Production using LuxCreo's Solutions
LuxCreo offers dental 3D printing solutions to meet the unique needs of dental labs and orthodontic offices. LuxCreo solutions support large dental labs production as well as same day. Built to meet varying business requirements, such as differing output demand, LuxCreo provides application-specific dental printing solutions.
Step 1: Upload Treatment Plan to LuxFlow
- Practitioners use an intraoral scanner to digitally create a three dimensional model of the patient's mouth.
- Treatment planning software translates the scan data into a solid models for each stage of aligner treatment.
- Practitioner uses LuxAlign to design direct print aligners
- Practioner uploads uploads aligner files to LuxFlow to prepare batch for printing.
Step 2: 3D Print Clear Aligners
- Pour DNG (Dental Night Guard) dental resin into the iLux Pro desktop or Lux 3D+ Lab 3D printers capable of printing clear and fast.
- iLux Pro and Lux 3D+ use UV light to cure each resin layer at once, maximizing production throughput.
Step 3: Remove parts from printer and begin post-processing.
- Wash aligners (2x 3 minutes)
- Air dry for 30 minutes
- UV cure for 30 minutes
Step 4: QC, Analysis and Packaging
1. Inspect aligner clarity and structural integrity.
2. Remove support and buff edge (1minute)
3. Packaging and ship
3D Dental Printers
3D Printers for Dental 3D Production. LuxCreo's industry-leading solutions enable fast, accurate, rapid prototyping and high-performance dental applications scaled for volume production.
iLux Pro Dental
Chairside clear dental appliance printing simplified.
Lux 3D+
Industrial 3D Dental Printer
How Does Orientation Affect Aligner Accuracy and Throughput
The most versatile dental model 3D printer resin supports horizontal and vertical printing with high strength for high dimensional accuracy after curing.
The difference between vertical and horizontal printing:
- Vertical printing: Larger batch quantity per minute.
- Horizontal printing: Has less layers and reduces printing time by 50%
Clear aligners are printed at a 45 degree angle.
LuxCreo Dental Resins
LuxCreo’s 3D printing solutions for dental are capable of producing a variety of oral devices for restorative and orthodontic applications. Utilizing a suite of cutting-edge dental resins, the 3D printers produce products that have high strength, low shrinkage, good biocompatibility, and abrasion resistance.
LuxCreo’s dental applications include:
Dental Models
Dental models are used to study teeth anatomy, thermoform removable appliances, and create fixed restorations. LuxCreo’s dental modeling resin, DMR, offers high thermoforming resistance and leaves minimal residual resin on aligners, preserving clearness. DMR’s strong mechanical properties ensure dimensional accuracy for aligners, retainers, and bite splints production.
Clear Aligners
LuxCreo’s printing solutions can directly print clear aligners that require minimal post-processing steps. With the Lux3 Dental printing solution, dental labs and practices can produce eight aligners in a little over an hour using a four-step process:
- Print the aligners
- Wash the aligners with LuxWash
- Dry aligners
- UV cure the aligners using the LuxCure station Buff off any support structures from the aligners
Other printing solutions can take hours or days to produce aligners with extensive labor steps.
Retainers and Bite Splints
LuxCreo’s printing solutions can directly print bite splints, retainers, and night guards. The bite splints are made with DNG, a biocompatible light-curing resin that offers high flexibility and toughness with minimal post-processing. DNG is uniquely engineered for clear 3D printing at high speeds to enable maximum throughput.
Surgical Guides
Surgical guides protect patient’s mouths during surgery by accurately guiding the surgeon’s drill. For surgical guides to be effective, they must fit the patient’s anatomy and provide precise hole placements. LuxCreo’s powerful combination of software, hardware, and surgical guide resin, DSG, enables the production of guides with the required accuracy and flexural strength.
Dental 3D printers enable operations to improve their devices’ quality, shorten production time, and increase output capabilities. Between the power of LuxCreo’s hardware, the deep design capabilities of LuxDental software, and the industry-leading strength of our dental resin suite, LuxCreo’s printing solutions can aid dental enterprises of all sizes.