Skip to content

Everything Dental Students Must Know About Applications of 3D Printing in Dentistry

Advertising

Everything Dental Students Must Know About Applications of 3D Printing in Dentistry

Being a dental student is both challenging and rewarding. You need to handle tons of assignments, attend dental seminars and workshops, and acquire practical skills indispensable for your future job. Not every student can cope with loads of pressure, stress, and other sorts of deprivations that may befall a dental student in college. So, you need to make sure you’re truly ionate about dentistry before jumping into it. Of course, you’ll be able to take advantage of reliable writing services that can make your educational burden more bearable. Edusson.com is one of the leading academic writing companies providing high-quality online custom essays for sale. So, if you need help with your essay or an urgent research paper, you can Edusson experts. Don’t worry. Your efforts and hard work will pay off in the long run. Once you graduate, you’ll be able to apply your knowledge and skills to benefit people. You’ll set up your own practice, which will allow you to polish the acquired skills, make tangible contributions to community health and decent money, of course.

As you know, studying isn’t only about assimilating new knowledge, but also getting to know innovations and advancements in your professional field. And innovations are manifold in healthcare, in particular, in dentistry. To be competitive in the labor market, you should keep abreast of recent advancements in the dental sector. In today’s article, we’re going to discuss the role of 3D printing in dentistry, the topic which will undoubtedly interest all dental students.

Dental 3D Printing Technologies and Materials

Everything Dental Students Must Know About Applications of 3D Printing in Dentistry

Presently, 3D printers are successfully used to manufacture as denture bases, night guards, bite splints, as well as regular crowns and bridges. With the advent of dental additive manufacturing, it became possible to create highly accurate dental and orthodontic models using safe, high-quality, and relatively inexpensive materials approved by the FDA. 3D printers used by dentists are characterized by exceptional accuracy, high efficiency, and smooth surface finish. For the time being, dentists mostly rely on such 3D printing technologies as Fused Deposition Modeling, photopolymerization, and metal additive manufacturing.

The Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the cheapest 3D printing technologies currently used in dental practices. Gutters and aligners fabricated from certified resins using the FDM technology will be durable, flexible, and inexpensive. One the downside, the process of creating the required appliance may take much time. Moreover, the accuracy of the technology in question leaves much to be desired.
When we’re talking accuracy, we’re talking high performance thermoplastics and the PEEK technology. Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a highly stiff organic thermoplastic polymer used for manufacturing such appliances as medical implants and structural brackets. No ordinary printer can handle high temperatures at which advanced polymers are molded into various appliances. Therefore, if you’re planning on using PEEK materials, set your sights on PAEK and PEI 3D printers manufactured by INTAMSYS, EOS, and Tractus3D.

Another additive manufacturing process worth being mentioned is photopolymerization. The given process makes it possible to create more lightweight and biocompatible appliances that can better cater to patient’s individual needs. Due to a considerably higher resolution and liquid resins used as primary material, photopolymerization allows for faster and more accurate printing. Experts note that when combined with FDA approved materials, photopolymerisation, especially its Digital Light Processing variation, “gives more accurate printing which allows more accurate devices to be created.” Currently, a wide variety of tight-fitting, biocompatible dental appliances, such as temporary crowns, bridges, satellites, and retainers, are being printed wherewith this technology.

Lastly, let us draw your attention to metal additive manufacturing technology used to produce dental implants, screeds, and satellites. Having a metal printer is quite a luxury. They are expensive and require more post-processing work than their FDM counterparts. Nevertheless, such a technology can be quite remunerative in of cost per unit. Thus, printing one crown will cost about $1, while the identical piece made by machining is about $10.

Cost Effectiveness

Everything Dental Students Must Know About Applications of 3D Printing in Dentistry

With 3D printing technologies having hit the mainstream, professional 3D printers become affordable even for beginner dental practitioners. The price of an average stereolithography 3D printer starts from $3,500, while you’ll need to spend about $40,000 on its material jetting counterpart. The costs of consumables and materials also vary from printer to printer. Still, the game is definitely worth the candle. Experts note that owners of 3D printers can treat their patient faster and more effectively. Moreover, the majority of current dental practitioners report having relatively quickly recovered the cost of their investments in expensive equipment.

As you see, the introduction of 3D printing technologies into the world of dentistry has improved the experience of both dentists and patients. So, why not give it a shot?

Sponsored Article

Similar articles

How useful is Java in 3D Designs?

Java is a popular programming language which is used for a huge variety of purposes, being the main ones creating video games and creating applications and programs for productivity in enterprises or similar job-related environments. But, did you know Java can also be used for 3D design modeling?

Read more

The Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing in Color

Most 3D printing technologies can only print in a single color. For the majority of makers, creating multi-colored prints requires that you use paint or other post-processing techniques to add color afterwards. For complex objects, painting afterwards may not be an option and the only solution is to print the part in color from the start. In this tutorial, we’ll be going over 5 techniques for adding color to your 3D prints. We’ll start with lower cost options like filament swapping and dual extrusion, and work our way up to expensive and industrial options like PolyJet and Binder Jetting.

Read more
Advertising