CAD/CAM

01. Can you tell us about the recently announced Vision 2020 plan?

New 3-D, streaming-video intraoral camera launched at CEREC 27.5.

The CAD/CAM custom-made Narval™ CC mandibular repositioning device (MRD) is designed for patients with mild to moderate OSA, as well as those who are unable to comply to CPAP treatment. It also is a first-line treatment for snoring in the absence of OSA. The CAD/CAM technology through selective laser sintering is said to ensure a precise fit and comfortable retention, enabling a high degree of customization to suit the complex dental anatomy of individual patients.

Kerox Dental Ltd. is a unique corporation with a long history of industrial ceramic manufacturing success. This success has allowed them to transition into the dental industry with amazing results. The company’s specialty product is an advanced Zirconium Dioxide that exhibits superior optical qualities through 30% higher translucency indexes.

A Q&A with Steve Sheehan, Straumann's Vice President, Lab Business North America.

Big news involving a pair of large dental companies was announced Thanksgiving week. Ivoclar Vivadent, headquartered in Schaan, Liechtenstein, announced the acquisition of Wieland Dental, a major supplier of dental systems solutions. The acquisition should be completed by the end of the year.

This week, a double dose of Dr. Peter Dawson – clinical expertise and his insights into CAD/CAM.

3Shape, maker of 3D scanners and CAD/CAM software solutions, will host an event on Sept.13 at 101 James Doolittle Blvd, Long Island, NY from 6:30pm-9:30pm. 3Shape will introduce the TRIOS digital impression solution system to dental professionals in preparation for its release later this year.

Frequently, I find I have to convince dentists that their technology plays an important role in their practice marketing. The fact is, technology has huge marketing implications-especially for dentists who have added CAD/CAM technology, such as CEREC® or E4D, to their practice. While these types of devices are on the high end of equipment expenditure, they are also on the high end of consumer appeal. Quite simply, patients are eager to find ways to spend less time in the dentist’s office.

3Shape showcased the TRIOS® intraoral scanner at the International Dental Society’s (IDS) meeting in Cologne, Germany last spring. Editors from Dental Products Report were present and recounted the crowds standing around to watch live demos in action.

Designed as an all-in-one CAD system for dental laboratories, the DScan Due+ is a structured white light scanner with an integrated PC. The system can handle accurate 3D scanning, precision digital modeling and CAD restoration design. While the system offers automated operations, all scan strategies and data acquisition parameters are user customizable. Scans are accurate up to 15 microns, data can be exported in standard STL format, and the scans and designs can be viewed by connecting the scanner to any computer monitor.

CEREC Doctors co-founder Dr. Armen Mirzayan demos the Omnicam and the CEREC AC system live from the CEREC 27.5 event.

Dental Products Report digital media director Steve Diogo sat down with a panel of key opinion leaders, including Dr. Neal Patel, Dr. Tarun Agarwal and Sirona's VP of CAD/CAM Roddy MacLeod last week at the CEREC 27 and a Half event in Las Vegas.

On the event of Sirona Dental Systems' launch of CEREC Omnicam, we look at technologies that take dental care to the next level. The criteria for the list is simple:  Does this product make clinical care better - more predictable, more efficient, more comfortable? Are you and your patients better off for incorporating this technology into the practice?

Vident will conduct a pair of hands-on shade workshops in September and also will team with renowned instructor and ceramist, Claude Sieber, MDT, to offer a hands-on workshop that integrates all the visual elements necessary to reproduce a natural tooth using VITA ceramics.

There is no group of products quite like the “Best of Class” honorees, in large part because it would be almost impossible to recreate the process by which they were selected.

DENTSPLY Int’l VP and Chief Clinical Officer Linda Niessen, DMD, MPH, MPP, discusses DENTSPLY’s efforts to improve the oral health of patients.

The Paperless Video Series continues with tips to efficiently integrate a paperless system with digital radiography, CAD/CAM, and computer systems.  

With a wide variety of materials now available to use with the E4D Dentist System, this how-to by Dr. Walter Renne, DMD, offers up examples of restorations and a review of material choices.

A pair of recently released market analysis reports point to the steady growth of digital technologies in use in the dental space, with a projection that the global market for 3D printing will hit $3 billion by 2018 and the dental CAD/CAM market will reach $540 million by 2016.

I guess one could say I was not instantly convinced. My introduction to digital impressions began in 2003 with a CEREC® 3 demonstration at a dental convention. From the beginning, I was fascinated with the digital imaging portion of the technology, but was resistant to change.

Dental laboratories interested in adding Roland’s DWX-50 mill to their CAD/CAM operations can now look to Whip Mix, as the Louisville, Ky., company recently announced it is an authorized provider of the milling system.

This week's episode of DPR Friday features Dr. Leonard Hess's column on preventing clinical failures. Getting it right the first time is just one of the Dawson Academy team member's tips. The three major forms of failure that Dr. Hess will explain are bacteria, force management and esthetics and patient comfort.

For general dentists and lab technicians looking to stay current with industry news, here’s a wrap up of some of the biggest news articles posted to www.dentalproductsreport.com during the past week.  

BEGO’s new CAD/CAM production center takes open scanner STL files to produce Selective Laser Melting (SLM) non-precious CoCr copings and bridges (single units to long span bridges), CAD/cast noble and high noble vacuum/pressure castings, or BeCe Waxup resin crown and bridges. SLM, a form of rapid-prototyping or Stereolithography that uses laser technology to melt alloy powder into thin layers, is used in all BEGO production centers. The layers are melted together to create homogeneous copings and bridges.

Designed to enable dental labs to manufacture fixed and removable metal frameworks, the PXS dental system laser sintering  machine gets the job done cost effectively and efficiently. Using laser sintering technology to create non-precious copings and frameworks from metal powder, the system produces high quality finished products with a very high degree of accuracy while significantly reducing build time.

With high quality 3D printing more accessible than ever, digital model production makes a lot of sense, and Florida-based Sun Dental Labs is putting such a solution into action by combining 3D printing technology from 3D Systems with the digital scanning and design systems from 3Shape.

Jim Tobolski had been looking for the right dentist for some time but just hadn’t “latched onto one.” That is before he started visiting Dr. Edmond Suh’s Supremia Dentistry in Wake Forest, N.C. When Jim first stepped foot inside the practice, he liked the atmosphere, the look and the friendly staff. But when he had his first crowns put in using Dr. Suh’s E4D Dentist System, he was blown away.

This week's episode of DPR Friday brings you an inside look at a few of the Pride Institute "Best of Class" honorees. This feature will appear each month leading up to the ADA Annual Session, allowing the technology panel to explain why they chose this year's winners.

As a full time general dentist, as well as a practice management coach and consultant, CAD/CAM technology is a subject that has been of significant interest to me. I incorporated CAD/CAM into my practice more than 10 years ago, and have been a proponent of the technology and its efficiency ever since.