B4 LAB TRIBUNE Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 2/2019 Driving innovation forward For more information about Dentsply Sirona Lab portfolio please contact your local representative Dentsply Sirona 21st Floor, The Bay Gate Tower Business Bay, Al Sa’ada Street Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel.: +971 (0)4 523 0600 Web: www.dentsplysirona.com/en E-mail: MEA-Marketing@dentsplysirona.com single surrounding detail, which includes being completely recep- tive and having a comprehensive, up-to-date understanding of our production, quality assurance, prod- uct management, and even logistic teams. In R&D you need constant cu- riosity, great communication skills and inventive thinking. How does science, clinical studies, and research all fi t under the Dent- sply Sirona Lab name? Can you pro- vide a little background on what goes into testing a product before it actually goes into development, and ultimately goes to market? Due to the fact we are working in the medical devices market, we fulfi ll a great number of demands for testing and design control processes. For ex- ample, when developing a new ma- terial for dentistry we need to look at the biocompatibility as well as risk management starting from the production process, to the user, all the way to the end result — our pa- tients. Besides proving and surpass- ing all requirements from applicable standards, we also want to know how our customers accept the workfl ow of the product. Before we launch, we take a close look at how it fi ts into the actual workfl ow of real-life den- tal laboratories, and we then start additional vigorous clinical testing after the launch as well. We include our customers quite early on in this process to allow us to react to their outcomes and feedback, and then be able to improve the product within the development timeline. concerns and ongoing daily chal- lenges. What makes Dentsply Sirona unique is that the entire workfl ow is shown, and it can be linked to other work- fl ows and combined into an inte- grated solution. When it comes to the prosthetic treatment of an implant using an abutment and full ceramic crown, for example, Dentsply Sirona Lab is the right partner for laboratories. But the treatment workfl ow as a whole starts from the earlier stage of diagnostics and the implantologi- cal treatment, and ends with the res- toration fi nally being cemented or screwed in place. For this purpose, Dentsply Sirona and its Imaging, Implants, and Restorative business create integrated workfl ows for both dentists and dental laboratories. One of your roles within Dentsply Sirona is to constantly provide ma- terial innovations that expand lab offerings to their dentist clients, while improving their workfl ow. How do you gather the informa- tion needed to improve upon these offerings? We use groups of our core custom- ers, labs and dentists. Sometimes the most effective feedback comes from our labs and dentists who are eve- ryday partners because they know their ideal workfl ow routine, and are able to communicate their emerging Can you tell us a little about Celtra® Press, the newest material for labo- ratories? What was the industry missing (doctor, labs, and patients) that this material now offers? Celtra® Press has signifi cantly im- proved the workfl ow in the lab by being easier to press (with excel- lent fl owability) and excluding the time-consuming and dangerous use of hydrofl uoric acid to get rid of the reaction layer. Despite this, it is the reaction layer. Despite this, it is stronger than other pressable high- stronger than other pressable high- strength glass-ceramic materials on strength glass-ceramic materials on the market. Therefore, Celtra® Press the market. Therefore, Celtra® Press provides a simpler workfl ow in the provides a simpler workfl ow in the lab, the dentist receives a robust ma- lab, the dentist receives a robust ma- terial with a very good fi t and easy terial with a very good fi t and easy polishability, and the patient abso- polishability, and the patient abso- lutely loves the natural looking aes- lutely loves the natural looking aes- thetics and beauty of his or her new thetics and beauty of his or her new teeth. What do you foresee Dentsply Si- What do you foresee Dentsply Si- rona off ering in the near or distant rona off ering in the near or distant future as far as material advance- future as far as material advance- ments? We will soon present a new genera- We will soon present a new genera- tion of CAD/CAM material, hand in tion of CAD/CAM material, hand in hand with the lab material combin- hand with the lab material combin- ing Celtra® Ceram porcelain that is ing Celtra® Ceram porcelain that is suitable for every all ceramic case. suitable for every all ceramic case. We are also planning further ma- We are also planning further ma- terial improvements on other terial improvements on other material sectors coming material sectors coming very soon! By Dentsply Sirona As the Director of Research and De- velopment at Dentsply Sirona Lab, Markus plays a central role in terms of our innovation pipeline. He is the person who drives new product developments, for example, innova- tive materials such as Celtra® Press. Thanks to his expertise, great com- munication skills and inventive thinking, Markus understands our customers’ needs and turns them into new and smart product ideas. His work philosophy refl ects Dent- sply Sirona’s unique positioning by always laying out the whole pic- ture of the workfl ow. He is working closely together with other Dentsply Sirona business units to generate valuable links to related workfl ows. This means that you can benefi t from thought out end-to-end solu- tions, and subsequently benefi t from tangible improvements in your daily work. In this interview, Markus explains the various facets of his work as well as the secret behind real innovation. Tell us a little about your role as Director of Research & Develop- ment? What are some of your daily endeavors and/or challenges? A typical day for me is full of review- ing the statuses of all running prod- uct development projects, anticipat- ing and identifying what obstacles or surprises (sometimes positive, sometimes negative) there are or might be, and how we can manage all of these things in order to either meet existing timelines and dead- lines or to be able to start new pro- jects which are fi tting in the overall portfolio of the company. For the development team, one needs an open ear to absorb every Interview: “We defi nitely passed a tipping point for 3-D printers” By Brendan Day, DTI Powered by 3D Systems’ proprietary Figure 4 technology, the NextDent 5100 is a high-speed dental 3-D printer designed to save time for both patient and practitioner. Den- tal Tribune International spoke with Rik Jacobs, dental vice president and general manager at 3D Systems; Se- bastiaan Cornelissen, CEO of Cordent and Core3dcentres; and Dr Michael Scherer, an American prosthodon- tist, about the NextDent 5100 and future trends in dentistry. Is the NextDent 5100 designed specifi cally with the dental lab in mind, or can it be used in a dental practice as well? Rik Jacobs: Essentially, I designed this product to be used by both labs and clinicians with success. Sebastiaan Cornelissen: We found that the most important thing was to have a system that can incorpo- rate multiple machines and multiple materials if necessary. This fl exibility was the main feature that we were looking for, and the NextDent 5100 delivers this. Dr Michael Scherer: For a clinician like myself, there’s been an embrace of 3-D printing in recent years. How- ever, it’s always been the lower-cost models that have been prioritised. With the multiple materials and extremely fast printing that the NextDent 5100 offers, I think that clinicians can now offer a realistic chairside solution for patients. What are the benefi ts of the Next- Dent 5100 for dental labs? Cornelissen: In the dental lab, you have similar time pressure issues to a dental practice. You need to be able to produce things fast, in multiple colours and often in large quanti- ties. To be frank, these are all easily achievable with this printer. Often, a dentist will send some scans to us so that we can quickly create a smile design for the dentist to print a mock-up of in his or her offi ce. Though we are based in the Nether- lands and have clinicians working with us from Germany, the Next- Dent 5100 allows for this entire pro- cedure to be conducted in less than 2 hours. What has the feedback been since the launch of this printer? What have customers most liked about it? Jacobs: What was important for us, besides what these gentlemen have already mentioned, was that the printer have a high level of accuracy. With ten years of experience in the 3-D dental printing industry, I’ve learnt that a lot of printers work fi ne in the beginning but lose their ac- curacy over time. When 3D Systems acquired my company, we decided to make sure that our printer would work without issue, day in and day out, for at least three years. Flexibil- ity, speed, accuracy and, ultimately, affordability of the machine and the materials—these, along with train- ing and ongoing support from our outstanding resellers, are the foun- dations of the NextDent 5100. We got a lot of feedback from users of this printer, like Michael and Se- bastiaan, and thankfully, our R & D team in San Diego really listened to what they asked for, what the mar- ket asked for. I think this is what our company should always do: listen carefully to our customers and de- liver what they need and want. Are software updates included? Jacobs: Automatically. As long as the user is connected to the Internet, he or she will be able to have the latest updates automatically downloaded to the printer. It’s predicted that, within three to fi ve years, more than 50 per cent of dental labs globally will have an in-house 3-D printer. What, in your opinion, is driving this growth? Jacobs: Well in 2018, we defi nitely passed a tipping point for 3-D print- ers here at 3D Systems. Thanks to easier registration, certifi cation, im- proved ease of use, and a range of other factors, it has become much more achievable to integrate a 3-D printer into one’s daily workfl ow. Scherer: Clinicians are now expect- ing dental labs to be digital and to have printing capabilities. It’s no longer a case of whether a lab will take your fi les, but rather if they print themselves or still outsource it. That’s how fast 3-D printing has grown in dentistry.