8/1/2023 0 Comments Buttercup dentalWe heard about line pairs and electrical differences, but, in the end, what really mattered was the diagnostic quality of the end product (the image). There were wars about which was better-CMOS or CCD. Here is where some of the confusion comes in: We are going to start hearing about a variety of methods of printing, and it will be reminiscent of the introduction of digital x-ray sensors. Just as we can create 3-D reconstructions of our cone-beam images, the printer stacks these slices on top of each other and essentially “welds” them into the end product. In general, a 3-D printer looks at the software design as if it was a CT scan with thousands of layers. This is similar in concept to a 3-D printer. The toner would build up on the paper, and soon you would have raised letters. Imagine if you kept putting the same piece of paper back in the bin and reprinted the exact same thing hundreds of times. When a letter was printed, a black powder was sprinkled on the paper and heat fused it to the page. To simplify 3-D printing, I like to make an analogy to our old copy machines that used toner. Well, not quite yet for crowns and bridges. With the proliferation of these new printers in the marketplace, it would seem that all one has to do is go through the same design process, push a button, and print the restoration. I went through this exercise to begin a discussion of additive manufacturing of restorations, or 3-D printing. This is called subtractive manufacturing, as the burs are removing material from the block. Once this is done and the button is pushed, the mill uses one or more burs to “drill” out the restoration. The designer can virtually place the upcoming restoration in the block to determine which part of the tooth gets which shade. Next, you have to decide which material you want to use for this restoration and put an ingot (block) in the machine before you press “mill.” There is also some artwork involved if the blocks have multiple colors. Looking at the actual process, software is used to design a restoration, and it creates a file that is sent to the mill. CEREC (Dentsply Sirona) and PlanMill (Planmeca) were, of course, the first and continue to dazzle us and our patients with new and more complex restorations. stacks…slices on top of each other and…“welds” them into the end product.įor years, we have been watching restorations being created before our eyes in desktop mills. …a 3-D printer looks at the software design as if it was a CT scan with thousands of layers….
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