“We wanted to use the available CAD data to meet the need for strong, precise-fitting porcelain-on-metal restorations,” he notes. Up until that time, according to Cascone, digital STL files were only being used to mill all-ceramic restorations. That was in 2007, and the system Argen purchased, after considering other AM processes, was an EOSINT M 270 from EOS. companies in the dental industry to use SLM technology,” Cascone says. “When a lab customer is interested in switching to a digital process, of all the production tools we can offer them we always recommend that they take advantage of our selective laser melting capabilities,” says Cascone.

What it means that Argen now offers high-noble SLM The benefits of AM technology for laboratory customers are many: Steps in the traditional workflow can be skipped virtually any geometry can be created waste is reduced the resulting restorations are accurate and as durable as those made with lost-wax casting and, while fine detail can be captured in both the subtractive and additive processes up to certain limits, there is no added cost with AM for sculpting more complex tooth geometries. This cycle repeats, adding on layers one at a time, until the restoration is fully formed. A laser, guided by the CAD model, then traces a cross-sectional outline of each patient-specific dental unit, melting and hardening the material into a 20-micron-thick layer. The automated sintering process starts with the system depositing a thin layer of metal powder onto a build platform. In this additive manufacturing (AM) process, which utilizes selective laser melting, the CAD model guides production that adds on layers of material, rather than cutting it off and throwing it away (as with milling). Another path is selective laser melting (SLM), a technology in which Argen is an industry leader. In this subtractive manufacturing approach, the digital file of the model guides the cutting of either a solid ceramic or composite-resin block into a prosthesis matching the shape of the teeth. One path is via a computer-controlled milling machine ( CAD/CAM dentistry). The resulting CAD (computer aided design) 3D model can be used to create a restoration in several ways. Where a physical mold of a patient’s teeth serves as the starting point for a lost-wax casting, the digital equivalent is an image of the teeth taken in the mouth with an intraoral scanner (although scans can also be made from physical impressions). The transition to digital begins with the impression.

But during the last decade, digital tools and technology have been cutting time and cost from workflows, enabling the dental lab business model to evolve towards greater efficiency and precision. In this approach, dentists rely on a molded impression of the damaged tooth (or teeth), a careful sequence of production steps and painstaking hand finishing-and remake levels tend to be high. Related: How Argen Digital can help with implant workįor years, the manufacture of dental prostheses has been based on the lost-wax method, which has roots in 5,000-year-old investment casting techniques. Those advantages can be powerfully persuasive for the laboratories who are listening.

“I tell them it can broaden their offerings, eliminate inventory, cut waste and significantly boost their productivity,” he says. When Paul Cascone, senior vice president of research and development at Argen, speaks to a potential dental lab customer, he always leads with the benefits of digital technology.

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