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Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 4/2017 ENDO TRIBUNE A3 A commitment to German quality boxes and blister packs. The instru- ments are then deposited into crates within the clean room environment. Employees line these with sterile bags and they are then sealed with lids in the clean room area and sent for final packaging. They are marked to indicate sterilisation status. VDW sends the goods for sterilisation again before shipping in order to ensure that there are no bacteria when they leave the warehouse. If desired by a customer, a small laser can be used to mark the blisters for individual needs. Finally, the ware- house system tracks the available spaces, scans the goods and knows automatically when sufficient goods have been removed. In the storage, the DTI team receives a blister with instruments shining in blue. More about that later. Everything is monitored Even more impressive than the al- most fully automated production is the monitoring technology. The spe- cially developed camera system is probably one of the most advanced in the dental industry. One exam- ple is the ring marking. Each ring is checked for diameter, width and colour application. The system will then indicate “green”, signifying that all is OK, or “red” to flag a problem. Instruments with no ring colour are automatically removed. Another camera checks the twisting of ream- ers and files according to length and degree of twisting, preventing any warped instruments from going any further in the production process. Yet another camera checks the barbs on the broaches. A further camera monitors the status of the boxes and blisters and verifies the geometries of the instruments and their colours by means of images. In accordance with the strictest med- ical devices regulations, the camera detects the tiniest deviations in the instruments and packaging—even individual particles—and these packs are separated automatically. Another camera checks the labels. If there has been a printing error or an incorrect label has been used, the affected item is immediately sepa- rated by the machine. In this way, the company guarantees the safety and quality of its products and fulfils all regulatory requirements. Tried and tested and constant change Even in 2017, manual work still has its place in production. Each reamer and file are elaborately finished by hand. VDW initially wished to auto- mate this manual work too, but the employees are so good at their work that they can produce the tip with exactly the required cutting angle very quickly. Thirty-five million in- struments therefore include some manual production and additional inspections. Production is being re- structured currently with the indi- vidual injection moulding machines being combined, creating dedicated areas within the manufacturing process. Monitoring by camera will ensure that no products are mixed up or swapped. “It is extremely im- portant to us to improve ourselves and remain at the cutting edge. We have to keep pace with the dynamics of the market and steer them,” stated Picard. As a result, a new technology centre is created almost every two years. Achieving German quality requires German thinking. The breakthrough is blue German precision and commitment to quality also provided the basis for VDW’s latest product: RECIPROC® blue. In August 2016, the company announced this next generation of root canal preparation instru- ments, reducing the possibility of file breakage even further. Owing to a new production process, the files are significantly more flexible, and the dentist can pre-bend the instru- ments in order to gain easier access to severely curved canals. These new properties are made possible by a particular heating protocol. Once the RECIPROC® instruments have been manufactured according to the proven process followed, they are subjected to a heating process that is specified in detail. This changes the molecular structure of the NiTi in such a way that the RECIPROC® instrument acquires the additional properties described. The colour of the file changes to blue owing to the heating process. Otherwise, the ap- plication of RECIPROC® blue is the same and it can be used with the tried-and-trusted VDW endodontic motors. According to VDW, RECIPROC® blue instruments are suitable for both experienced and new users of the reciprocating system. And this seems to be the case when asking dentists around the world: “Recip- rocation offers a whole new world in the mechanical preparation of the main root canals. It is safer, faster and most likely cheaper, since there are fewer files involved,” says Dr Ser- giu Nicola who runs an established practice limited to endodontics in Bucharest. “If dentists want to try a reciprocating system, why not start directly with the best system cur- rently available on the market, in my opinion RECIPROC® blue?” Dr Grzegorz Witkowski, an established dentist from Poland, adds: “I have been testing RECIPROC® blue for quite some time. Most importantly, I really like the flexibility of the file. In addition, RECIPROC® in my ex- perience is about 60 per cent faster than multiple file systems. I loved RECIPROC® when I started to use it, but now I never want to switch back from RECIPROC® blue.” RECIPROC® blue is launched to be globally. However, Germany and Europe remain home and the most important market for VDW. There- fore, the company’s production fa- cilities in Munich will remain and be steadily expanded, reflecting the company’s commitment to German quality. “This step is often left out with fake copies so that the handle slips off,” said Picard, referring to the counter- feit products on the market, which is a global concern for both manufac- turers and dentists. This is followed by the injection process to form han- dles around the wires, which are first placed into moulds, depending on the ISO diameter of the instruments. The plastic used is a high-perfor- mance polymer that can be steri- lised repeatedly and can therefore be used in autoclaves. The granules are recycled to a certain extent. In- jection moulding is applied gently, but extremely quickly. The precise injection moulding machines are some of the fastest in the industry. Injection moulding of the handles requires a great deal of expertise and experience. The high-performance robot produces 16 instruments in 14 seconds. The instruments are printed on us- ing tampography (pad printing), a special process used for printing on the front and side of the instru- ment. The silicone stoppers are then applied according to instrument length. The stopper is brought from the hopper machine in an auto- mated process and a collet chuck holds it firmly while the instrument is pushed through the stopper. The instruments go into large machines during the washing process, and here a technician must constantly ensure a sterile environment. There- fore, a machine creates a clean room environment in order to allow sterile packaging after the washing proce- dure. An automated packing facil- ity sorts all of the instruments into By Marc Chalupsky, DTI In the field of endodontics, instru- ments of different sizes and angles and with various handles have been developed for root canal therapy— from simple stainless-steel files to today’s high-tech instrumentation systems. VDW is one of the most well-known manufacturers of endo- dontic products in the world. Most of the 52 million instruments it pro- duces annually are manufactured in Munich in Germany. For more than 145 years, VDW has been operating from its site in the heart of Europe, where it manufactures endodontic instruments in a shift operation. The company granted Dental Trib- une International not only an ex- clusive look behind the scenes of its 3,000m² high-tech facility. We also saw the latest generation of RECIP- ROC® files: RECIPROC® blue, giving dental professionals a unique instru- ment with enormous flexibility, re- sistance to fracture and outstanding cutting capacity Every dentist knows that optimal root canal preparation requires a highly flexible file system with ex- tremely good cutting performance and low material fatigue. Further- more, the file system must be easy and quick to use and suitable for preparing even severely curved root canals. Today, there is a range of sys- tems available to dental specialists including those based on reciprocat- ing or continuously rotating motion, as well as hand instruments. With its single-file reciprocating system RE- CIPROC®, for example, VDW offers a safe solution for optimal root canal preparation. Apex locators, obtura- tion systems such as GUTTAFUSION, an ultrasonic device and materials for filling root canals all reflect the company’s reputation as a specialist for complete endodontic solutions and systems. Visions of endodontic heaven DTI was granted direct access to op- erations at one of the most innova- tive manufacturers in the field of endodontics. While the company has a 145-year history, the well- maintained business premises look very modern. VDW was one of the first European manufacturers of endodontic instruments, and today offers products for the entire treat- ment process—including prepara- tion and irrigation, root canal filling and postendodontic maintenance. VDW emphasises simplicity and ef- ficiency in its systems, allowing both general practitioners and specialists to provide optimal treatment in a few steps. At the facility in Munich, Gregor Picard, Director of Opera- tions at VDW, took us through the entire production process for the company’s manual, rotating and re- ciprocating instruments. The tour began with the machines for cutting and straightening the wires. Most file systems use highly flexible, fracture-resistant stainless steel combined with a special alloy. For almost 30 years, the industry has relied not only on chromium–nick- el–stainlesssteel alloys but also on nickel–titanium alloy (NiTi), known for its pseudo-elasticity. NiTi files are used particularly in severely curved root canals. Owing to other beneficial properties, including shape memory (the material returns to its original form), super-elastic behaviour and good biocompatibility, dentists are increasingly opting for NiTi files, but not dispensing with stainless-steel files. “We are constantly working on new alloys, materials and geome- tries. However, it is just a question of refinements these days; the conical tapered form of the instruments and the NiTi alloy have proven them- selves,” said Picard. The wires are subsequently ma- chined. Straight after this procedure, an employee checks the finished instruments using a digital measur- ing system and visually inspecting them under a microscope. This sys- tem, like the entire production pro- cess, is fully automated. The process is properly validated to ensure that VDW can always provide the same quality and reliable monitoring. The washing plant cleans the instru- ments and completely removes the oil used in production, for example. A gripper then takes the deposited instruments and machines in the ring marking. The colouring is done within a few seconds. The ink is then dried and the instrument is inspect- ed again by camera. The next procedure is attaching the handle. The robot trims the instru- ment at the top so that it is wide enough to connect the wire firmly to the handle.