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ePaper created 2015-05-11, 15:34:22 | version 1.33.01
6 Lab Tribune Italian Edition - Maggio 2015tendenze Dentures produced using 3-D printing versus casting and milling Non-precious metal alloys are enjoying increased demand in dental technology. Additive manufacturing with laser melting ensures the uniformity and accuracy of ceramic-veneered, non-pre- cious metal restorations created from powder using laser energy. Are the traditional manufacturing processes of dental technicians, such as casting and milling, making a comeback? CAD/CAM magazine spoke with Master Dental Technician Dieter Spitzer of Unicim, a manufacturer of dental restorations based in Berschis in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Digital process networking is linking dentists, laboratories and dental manufacturers more closely than ever and putting everyone involved under pressure to act. The entire process chain, from impression taking to prosthetic restoration, is undergoing a dynamic transition—a trend away from casting and toward digital additive manufacturing. CAD/CAM: Mr Spitzer, you refer to Unicim as a digital production centre. What do you mean by that? Dieter Spitzer: Unicim combines traditional production methods with digital CAD/CAM manufac- turing, such as metal laser melting and powderbased plastic laser sin- tering. With rapid manufacturing methods, you can select the most functional and affordable dental prosthetic solution based on your customer’s needs, be it crowns and bridges, frameworks, primary and secondary structures, or implant superstructures. Can you give us an idea of the process of creating dental restorations from metallic powders using additive manufacturing technology? Once the 3-D CAD data is complete, the support structures are set up using data-processing software. Various software solutions are available for this purpose. One of the most common is CAMbridge, which requires licence fees. Alter- natively, there is AutoFab Mlab, which is licence-free and allows you to assign specific measurements. With Concept Laser’s systems, the customer is able to choose freely and is not bound by any software. The processed data is transmitted to the machine via the network or USB port and the construction job is started. With this process, you can finish a project fully automat- ically overnight. Once complete, the components are removed from the building board and refinished. Af- ter manually removing the support structures, the surface is then mi- cro-blasted with aluminium oxide, and the crown edges are thinned down in the case of bridges. Will milling and casting soon be a thing of the past in dental prosthetics? Milling and casting will remain part of the standard repertoire of dental laboratories for training and application. Additive manu- facturing options will offer many advantages in the future and re- duce production risk enormously. Unfortunately, they are still far too rarely seen in practice by dentists and dental technicians. Some of this has to do with the old school mentality of doing everything manually. <> pagina 7