A provider of high-accuracy dental 3D printers since 2008, EnvisionTEC launched the first FDA-approved full denture solution for 3D printing in 2017. AvaDent, meanwhile, offers easy-to-use digital denture software and design services to dental professionals, so prosthetics can be quickly manufactured through milling or 3D printing, with more than 100,000 dentures created.
- EnvisionTEC was the first to market with a complete 3D printed digital denture solution
- AvaDent is the leader in easy-to-use software and design services for digital dentures
- More than 40% of all dentures are estimated to be created digitally by 2024
Working together, the two companies now offer a complete digital workflow solution for digital dentures, from impressions and digital design to try-in and final restoration.
“While 3D printing a full denture on our 3D printers is easy, digitally designing a denture can be complicated. That’s why we’re so excited to work with AvaDent, which offers easy-to-use software and delivers a tested workflow to labs and dentists,” said EnvisionTEC CEO Al Siblani.
EnvisionTEC’s FDA-approved E-Denture pink base material and E-Dent 100 and 400 materials that simulate teeth in a variety of shades means laboratories and dentists can now 3D print lifelike dentures with a custom, digital fit directly in their office. When used on a versatile EnvisionTEC Vida desktop 3D printer, dentists can also directly print crowns, bridges, bite splints, gingiva masks and castables.
AvaDent offers a suite of digital denture services including base plates, bonded dentures, monolithic dentures, hybrid dentures, overdentures, pucks and print files. Customers can scan impressions and send the scan files to the company, which designs a digital denture with proprietary Computer Aided Engineering technology and sends the design file to the customer. Dentists and labs can do the manufacturing of the prosthesis on their own mills or 3D printers — or outsource that work to AvaDent.
“We see an immediate opportunity for labs and clinicians to begin 3D printing try-in dentures and final restorations, alongside the many other dental applications offered by 3D printers,” added Jan Slor, VP and General Manager of Global Dental Science LLC, which owns Avadent.
Rapid 3D have been working to educate labs, dentists and patients on the benefits of digital dentures, which are regarded as the most difficult dental prosthetic to manufacture because of complex fit, bite and aesthetic requirements.
Digital dentures also offer unique benefits. For example, if a digital denture is lost it can easily be recreated within a couple of days using the digital file that was created and stored. AvaDent estimates that more than 40% of new dentures will be made digitally by 2024, with an increasing number being produced directly on 3D printers rather than mills. It is estimated that more than two-third of dental labs already use a 3D printer in their manufacturing processes.
About EnvisionTEC
EnvisionTEC is a leading global provider of professional-grade 3D printing solutions. Founded in 2002 with its pioneering commercial DLP printing technology, EnvisionTEC now sells more than 40 printers based on six distinct technologies that build objects from digital design files. The company’s premium 3D printers serve a variety of medical, professional and industrial markets, and are valued for precision, surface quality, functionality and speed. EnvisionTEC’s intellectual property includes more than 140 pending and granted patents. Rapid 3D are the EnvisionTEC authorised agents for sub-Saharan Africa.
About AvaDent
AvaDent Digital Dental Solutions, whose product line includes AvaDent Digital Dentures, is owned by Global Dental Science LLC (GDS), a dental innovations company dedicated to improving dental procedures and outcomes through Process Automation.