GAP Australasian Dentist Sept Oct 2020

Category 98 Australasian Dentist O ver the last few years, the practice has seen exponential growth in demand for clear aligners from patients. At first, Dr. Burton turned to service providers to manufacture the aligners, but soon, they couldn’t keep up with the growing number of cases. This increased the turnaround time for aligner cases, and in turn, the practice’s ability to get cases started and do revisions in a timely manner decreased significantly. Dr. Burton felt that his patients deserved better and decided to invest in 3D imaging, diagnostics, and 3D printing solutions. Today, SmileMaker runs a small in- house lab with a Form 2, a Form 3, and the latest Form 3B dental 3D printers, primarily printing orthodontic models used for the fabrication of aligners and retainers. This has allowed the practice to move from a time when they had little to no control over the aligner process to having complete control. Balancing Speed and Resolution With Grey and Draft Resins Formlabs recommends two materials for printing orthodontic models for the fabrication of aligners and retainers, Grey Resin and Draft Resin. In the last year, we introduced 160 micron settings for Grey Resin that reduced print time to about half compared to the previous go-to 100 microns settings, making it possible to produce more aligners in a day without compromising quality for your patients. For rush jobs, orthodontists also have a new option to use Draft Resin, which prints at 300 microns and retains the clinically required accuracy, while halving printing time for a trade-off in surface finish. “The benefits of using Grey Resin are not so much accuracy or fit, as both resins seem to be accurate and fit for aligner purposes, but the clarity or smoothness of the aligner with regard to the layer lines being less noticeable. The downside to Grey Resin as compared to Draft is the increased printing time. However, after using Grey Resin primarily for the last 2-3 years, the print time has not ever been an issue as I am rarely ever printing for same- day fabrication,” said Dr. Burton. “The Draft Resin is relatively new, but it did save me the other day from having to reschedule a patient that I forgot to print. In less than 15 minutes I was able to print the model to be used for clear retainer fabrication and deliver it within the already existing appointment time,” said Dr. Burton. “One of the biggest benefits is that Draft can serve the purpose of speed if needed, while also maintaining a high-level quality print which is required to fabricate retainers. Initially, I had some concern over the 300-micron layer thickness and whether or not patients would be upset, but I honestly don’t think they have even noticed.” Dr. Burton primarily prints horseshoe arches directly on the build platform, horizontally, without supports, though if the production requires more models, they also do overnight prints vertically on supports to fit 12 or more aligner models in a single build. The large build platform of Formlabs SLA 3D printers allows for optimizing for quick builds during the day (Draft Resin, printed horizontally on the left) or larger builds overnight (Grey Resin, printed vertically on the right). With Draft Resin optimizing the orientation can also be advantageous for improving surface finish: “I have noticed that if you orient the model so that the facial surface of the incisors is perpendicular to the build plate, the layer lines are almost impossible to see. Print time will increase slightly, but if you have a patient that is concerned about it, you SmileMaker Orthodontics Jay Burton, DMD, MBA, is a board-certified orthodontist who runs his private practice, SmileMaker Orthodontics, near Nashville, Tennessee, USA. With Draft Resin, orthodontists can now print models in ~20 min for rush jobs. company profile