In-Office CAD/CAM is Rapidly Becoming a Necessity

The introduction of compact impression scanners, face scanners, and easy-to-use software offers improved quality of care and increased cost-efficiency for dental practices. The application of digital dentistry in place of manual restoration processes significantly increases accuracy and productivity, allowing laboratories or in-office staff to process more orders in a shorter time. The results are higher standards of treatment, accelerated case communication, and faster turnaround times with improved patient satisfaction.

The 3Shape Dental System™ is a complete solution that includes the D700 laser 3D scanner, the DentalDesigner™ CAD modeling program and the Dental-Manager™ application for managing and exchanging production files among dentists, laboratories, and manufacturers.

The system handles impressions, full casts, dies, implants, or wax-ups, and supports multiple design options, such as copings, full anatomical crowns and bridges, inlays, onlays, veneers, customized abutments, implant bridges and bars, etc. The system can be connected to an external manufacturing center or internal manufacturing equipment.

The 3Shape D700 scanner (Figure 1) is no larger than a desktop printer and will fit easily in anyoffice, so direct scanning of silicone andalginate impressions is always nearby.

Immediate digitalization of the impression in the dentist’s office eliminates the least accurate model-making steps and allows case communication between the dentist and laboratory to be initiated sooner. CAD design and parallel manufacturing of the model, coping, and crown can start right away (Figure 2); in some clinical cases, the model might not be needed at all.

The D700 scanner is a fast and capable 3D scanning device with 3Shape’s patented adaptive scanning technology, two cameras, and three-axis motion. Adaptive scanning intelligently detects incomplete areas and automatically rescans them, combining the motion of the two cameras and the movement of the scanning object to obtain full coverage. System benefits also include:

Increased accuracy—elimination of inaccurately poured gypsum models
Reduced model-making cost—by machines and overall fewer physical models
Virtual model creation tools—enable high-quality virtual and physical models
Improved turnaround time—instant digitalization allows manufacturing of model and crown/bridge in parallel

3Shape is developing digital dentistry to bring decision making to dentists and patients online. Pretreatment visualization is achieved by combining 3D scans of the patient’s face and teeth, and importing these into the 3Shape Dental System™. The design and esthetics of the planned dental treatment are visualized in one session and interactively updated and reviewed by the patient and dentist. This dialogue leads to improved patient satisfaction and higher-value treatments, both restorative and orthodontic. After preparation, the complete CAD design is transferred directly to the prepared scan, significantly reducing cost and turnaround time. System benefitsinclude:

Face scanning—captures the 3D model of the patient’s face
Visualize before and after—pretreatment visualization plus review of the planned restoration
Interactive design update—real-time design update during patient/dentist dialogue
Upscale treatment—higher-value treatments ensures “satisfaction guaranteed”
Increased patient satisfaction—tool for patient/dentist dialogue and design acceptance

3Shape’s product range and CAD/CAM technologies will provide solutions for digital storage, analysis, and appliance manufacturing for laboratoriesand orthodontic practices.

The technologies and experience realized through 3Shape’s scanning of dental impressions also will directly benefit orthodontics. A full-impression scanner is expected to be available soon, using the existing hardware platform of the R700, with applications that enable the orthodontist to make virtual set-ups from a patient’s scanned cast.

The R700 (Figure 3) scans patient casts in occlusion in only 5 minutes. Impression scanningfunctionalities for the full arch will becomeavailable through a software upgrade for existing R700 owners.

This software package allows automatic and detailed analyses to be performed on the patient’s scanned data, resulting in easier and more accurate diagnoses and assessment of treatment efficacy.

Virtual set-ups for detailed treatment planning and assessment will soon enable comparison of differenttreatment scenarios, ultimately resulting inmore efficient treatments, reduction of chair time and relapse, plus increased patient satisfaction. Virtual set-ups can be exported to manufacturing sites for automated manufacturing of customizedappliances. Communication amongorthodontist, patient, and laboratory benefits from interfacing to a practice management system, dataexchange with laboratories, videos for treatment planning, etc. System benefits also include:

Reliable high quality—less than 20 µm, two cameras, three-axis, adaptive scanning technology
Increased accuracy—by eliminating inaccurately poured gypsum models
Virtual base creation tools—reduce model making time and material costs
Advanced 2D/3D analysis tools—angle, distance, surface measurements, and reporting
Pre-defined analyses—tooth width, ideal arch, available space, etc, and user-defined analyses
Patient database—retrieval of scanned patient cases and direct interface to practice management systems

Since the 2005 launch of its scanning and CAD/CAM 3Shape Dental System™, the company has continued to push the boundaries of traditional dentistry with its digitized solutions. 3Shape’s success is built on a flexible business philosophy, which effectively puts advanced technology into the hands ofend-users.

With more than 50 full-time developers dedicated to dental solutions, 3Shape is committed to becoming the foremost provider of dental CAD/CAM systems. Leading global suppliers to the dental laboratory industry and large dental laboratory groups have teamed up with 3Shape and chosen 3Shape 3D scanners and CAD software as part of their customized dental CAD/CAM solutions.

For more information, contact:
3Shape Inc.
Phone: 908-219-4642
Web: www.3shape.com

The preceding material was provided by the manufacturer. The statements and opinions contained therein are solely those of the manufacturer and not of the editors, publisher, or the Editorial Board of Inside Dentistry. The preceding is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval for the aforementioned products or services or their effectiveness, quality, or safety on the part of Inside Dentistry or AEGIS Communications. The publisher disclaims responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas or products referred to in the preceding material.