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Formlabs Tells Us How to Make Good Looking 3D Printed Dentures

More than 36 million Americans do not have any teeth, and 120 million people in the US are missing at least one tooth. With these numbers expected to grow in the next two decades, the market for 3D printed dentures is expected to grow significantly.

Sam Wainwright, Dental Product Manager at Formlabs, suggested during the company’s latest webinar that he wouldn’t “be surprised to see 40% of dentures in America made with 3D printing,” claiming that it makes sense “at the technology level because there is no loss of material.” The expert delved into some of the techniques that have proven to work for aesthetically better 3D printed dentures. The webinar, titled Can 3D printed dentures look good?, offered dentists, technicians, and anyone interested in using 3D printing to improve dentures, tips on how to cut material costs by up to 80% (compared to traditional denture cards and acrylic); perform fewer steps to attain high-quality results, and overall prevent teeth from looking unnatural. 

“This is an ever expanding market with many options. 3D printed dentures are a very new thing, especially for removable prosthetics (something that has never been digitalized) so it is going to take some time for labs, dentists and patients to become used to it. The material is indicated for long term use but the most rapid adoption of this technology will be immediate conversion and provisional dentures, which have lower risk allowing dental professionals to walk not run into this new technology. We also expect the resins to get better, stronger and more aesthetic in time,” said Wainwright.

In fact, in the last year, Formlabs has already managed to upgrade the resins it sells for medical professionals to make oral prostheses, called Digital Dentures. These new FDA-approved resins not only resemble traditional dentures but they are also cheaper than other options. At $299 for the denture base resin and $399 for the teeth resin, the company estimates that the total resin cost for a maxillary denture is $7.20. Moreover, Formlabs also recently released the new Form 3 printer, which uses light touch supports: meaning post-processing just became much easier. Support removal is going to be quicker on the Form 3 than the Form 2, which translates to fewer materials costs and time.

“We are trying to prevent teeth from looking unnatural, and sometimes with these 3D printed dentures, the aesthetics are really suffering from it. We like to think that dentures should have life-like gingiva, natural cervical margins, individual looking-teeth, and be easy to assemble,” Wainright said.

The general basic workflow proposed by Wainright is to follow the traditional workflow until the final models are poured and articulated with wax rim, that set-up needs to be made digital with a desktop dental 3D scanner allowing for the digital design in any open CAD dental system, followed by 3D printing the base and teeth, and finally post-processing, assembling and finishing the piece. 

“After making so many parts, printing a ton of denture teeth and bases, and assembling them, we’ve come up with three techniques for an aesthetic 3D printed denture. What we want is to avoid some of the outcomes of today’s digital dentures, like products with an opaque base or gingiva, which is a bit of a mess in my opinion. Or you come about a semi transluscent base which leaves the roots exposed, and lastly when you use the splinted tooth workflow you can end up with a bulky interproximal connection. And since the papillae are a really thin printed parts, it’s really easy to see the teeth connecting, looking unnatural.”

The three aesthetic denture techniques suggested by Wainwright include:

  1. Natural gingival connection and cervical margin are based on the CAD output for optimal result
  2. Splinted arch ease of assembly without a bulky interproximal
  3. Life-like gingiva, inspired by “Brazilian Dentures”

Wainright suggests that for his first aesthetic dental technique, users can control the depth of penetration of the tooth as well as the angle it comes in or goes out, by using a new function in the 3Shape Dental System CAD software (version 2018+). The option is called coupling mechanism, and gives the user much more control than before, something which comes in very handy considering that “the more subgingival length the tooth has, the stronger the bond is with the base.” 

“The reason why 3D printed dentures are different than traditionally made dentures is that resins for the base and the teeth are like cousins. When the parts come out of the printer and you wash them, they are almost soft and even sticky, because they are only partially cured, between 25 and 35 percent. But during the final UV curing process, the tooth and the base become one solid part.”

In fact, the dentures specialist indicates that users should cure the combined base and teeth with a handheld UV cure light, moving towards the interior, just to really hold the parts together. Once the user has checked that all the cavities have been filled up and removes any residual base resin, the denture is complete and ready to be submerged for 30 minutes in glycerine at 80 degrees celsius, for a total hour of cure time. At that point, the piece can be finished up with a UV glaze or wheel for a high shine polish.

The second recommended aesthetic denture technique involves a splinted arch ease of assembly without a bulky interproximal.

Wainright explained that he sets up “these cases up in CAD so they are 100% splinted together because it is so much easier to have consistent placement of teeth, instead of doing it one by one which can be labor-intensive. I first export the arch splinted, but the question here is how to make the connection between the teeth interproximally look natural, especially when you have a very thin papilla. So before assembly, during our support removal part of the process, we’ll take a cutting disk and reduce the interproximal connection down from the cervical margin up towards the incisal. This really helps the aesthetics of the denture without worrying about any spaces.”

He also recommends that during the assembly process, users can easily brush in gingiva resin in the spaces to make sure there is no air, gaps or voids, maintaining the strength.

“Keep your eye out for bubbles,” repeated Wainright many times, explaining that “if you do minimal interaction to get the resin in the spaces, it really reduces the bubbles.”

He also added that the key is to “flow in more resin at first, instead of just wetting it, and when it’s squeezed together it will flow into that area. Finally, the overflow can be wiped away with a gloved finger.” 

“It seems quite simple but this are the things we learn over time. I repeated many of these processes a handful of times and got better, today it may take me up to 10 minutes at the most to finish up one denture. Moreover, if you think about the soft touch supports in the Form 3, post processing will be even easier, as anyone will be able to rip them off and add very little finishing to the product.”

For the last aesthetic denture technique, Wainwright suggested following up the “Brazilian dentures” example, which offers an inspiring way to create life-like gingiva. He says he noticed Brazilians have become experts in creating dentures, adding translucent resins in the base that allow for the patient’s own gingiva color to show through. He proposed the LP resin Formlabs resin is also quite translucent, but when tested on a model or patient’s mouth, “it adds a nice depth to the gingiva itself giving a reflection of light useful in aesthetics.”

“When the denture is seated intraorally, the patient’s natural gingiva shows through making the prosthetic come to life.”

Formlabs is known for creating reliable, accessible 3D printing systems for professionals. According to the company, in the last decade, the dental market has become a huge part of the company’s business and that Formlabs is trusted by dental industry leaders across the globe, “offering over 75 support and service staff and more than 150 engineers.” 

It has shipped over 50,000 printers around the world, with tens of thousands of dental professionals using Form 2 to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients. Additionally, using their materials and printers in more than 175,000 surgeries, 35,000 splints and 1,750,000 3D printed dental parts. One of the aims at Formlabs is to expand the access to digital fabrication, so anyone can make anything, this is one of the reasons why the company is making webinars, to help everyone get there.

Wainright also revealed that Formlabs will be releasing two new denture bases, RP (reddish pink) and DP (dark pink), as well as two new denture teeth shapes, A3 and B2, that will complement the already existing A1, A2, A3.5, and B1. 

If you are a big fan of webinars, make sure to check out more at 3DPrint.com’s webinars under the Training section.

Discuss this article and more on 3DPrintBoard.com or comment below to tell us what you think.

[Images: Formlabs]

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What is Metrology Part 13: Object Recognition

3D Perception

We as humans have faulty perception of the physical environment we live in. Although we are able to distinguish 2D items and 3D items, we do not have the ability to measure them in real time with numeric values. We need to use outside devices to assist us. We have discussed at length these topics within our metrology series, but today we will take a look specifically at a subsection of knowledge within this field and computer vision. With computer oriented object recognition, humans are attempting to make the world more precise through the lens of a computer. There are a variety of things that get in the way of precise object recognition.

Object recognition is defined as technology in the field of computer vision for finding and identifying objects in an image or video sequence. Humans have the ability to recognize objects with bare minimal effort, even though an image varies in different viewpoints. The image also varies when it is translated, scaled, and rotated. People are able to recognize images even when they are somewhat incomplete and missing critical information due to an obstruction of view. Humans use the power of gestalt psychology to do such. Gestalt psychology is defined as a German term interpreted in psychology as a “pattern” or “configuration”. 

Gestalt in Practice

Gestalt is based on understanding and perceiving the whole sum of an object rather than its components. This view of psychology was created to go against a belief that scientific understanding is the result of a lack of concern about the basic human details.

The ability for a computer to recognize parts and synthesize them into a larger body object is the main source of error within computer vision and object recognition. This task is extremely challenging for computer vision systems. One must understand that computers have immense capabilities in logically describing constituents or smaller parts, but adding them together consistently to form the basis of a larger item is still difficult. This is personally why I am not too worried about a robot takeover anytime soon. Many approaches to the task have been implemented over multiple decades.

Matlab and object  detection/recognition

For a computer to do sufficient object recognition there needs to be a ton of precision with identifying constituent parts. To do this, a computer relies on a vast amount of point cloud data. A point cloud is defined as a set of data points in space. Point clouds are usually produced by 3D scanners. With this point cloud data, metrology, and 3D builds can be created. An object can be recognized through using point cloud data to create a mesh. For us as humans, we are able to interpret that mesh within our 3D realm. However, computers are not that great at such interpretation. They just give us great and precise data to work with. It is important to note that computers are okay at object detection. This refers to being able to decipher a part or object within a larger scene. But when we place multiple parts into a scene or an item with a complex geometry, things become difficult for a computer to decipher. Hence we only use 3D scanners to grab point cloud data and not process what a 3D object is. 

Currently in terms of object recognition, computers can barely recognize larger scale items within a 2D setting. It will take a long time for computers to have the graphic capabilities to even decipher what an object would be in a 3D environment. For example, MATLAB is a powerful coding software used for large scale data processing, but computers require a large amount of machine learning and deep learning techniques to process 2D images. First these systems need to do this at a rate of 99.9% confidence before one can move on to 3D images. Humans are not necessarily 100% accurate in terms of processing images either, but they are still slightly more consistent than computer vision techniques. Overall I am interested in learning how to develop such technologies, and I wonder who are the people and organizations wrestling with these problems daily.

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Kickstarter Campaign Continues for High-Resolution Jewelry 3D Scanner

Ukrainian company D3D-s was founded four years ago by father and son team Leonid and Denys Nazarenko, and last year they successfully raised $250,000 through Kickstarter for their first desktop 3D scanner. The duo built the structure, and the accompanying software, for their highly accurate scanner from scratch, and are now in the middle of another crowdfunding campaign for a jewelry LED-line desktop 3D scanner that promises retina resolution for even large models.

“Our D3D-s scanner takes advantage of LED-line technology, combining incredible accuracy and a price you can afford. Our sophisticated software achieves exceptional results when scanning jewelry,” the Kickstarter campaign page reads.

Most 3D jewelry scanners use projection technology, which typically requires components like projectors and cameras that are by no means affordable to the average amateur consumer or self-employed jeweler. The Nazarenkos list, for example, the B9 Scan350 jewelry projection scanner, which offers only two motion directions, a 1.3 MP camera, and costs a hefty $15,000. But the new D3D-s scanner uses a high-quality 5MP resolution camera and an inexpensive LED projector, which offers six motion directions, emits only one line, and is available to Kickstarter backers for just $4,000 – still expensive by my standards, but definitely a much more reasonable cost.

The company’s website explains how it was able to achieve this feat:

“The scanner is made of parts that are used in 3D printers and can be purchased one piece at a time. Only a few parts, such as the projector, mount, etc., are manufactured to order in small batches. Thus, we don’t have to make a huge batch of scanners. This significantly reduces our costs and investments.”

The D3D-s is a turntable 3D scanner, and its vertical accuracy reaches 0.010 mm, with a 0.015 mm horizontal accuracy, which is very helpful in terms of discerning small details on jewelry. Its moving step resolution is 0.000625 mm – over 84 times the resolution of projection scanners. According to a press release from the company, developers actually had to “limit the maximum resolution in order to get clients a finished result within 7 minutes.”

The scanner’s external dimensions measure 600 x 300 x 420 mm, and it weighs about 10 kg. It uses Windows software, LED light 945 Luminous Flux (lm), and 2 x USB 3.0 connectivity. It is a mono-color 3D scanner, and while the scanning process is fully automated, a computer connection is required for autonomous scanning.

The D3D-s scanner had electronics specifically developed for its use, with a four-layer circuit board that efficiently distributes heat and an electric motor controlled by a L6472PD microcontroller, which makes it possible for the scanner to smoothly accelerate and slow the motor. Once you select the size of your scan and click the button, it’s smooth sailing, and you’ll get an accurate STL file at the end. Due to refined algorithms and mathematics, jewelers can successfully achieve a precise, highly accurate 3D model; to see some examples, check out D3D-s on Sketchfab.

One thing the D3D-s doesn’t offer is speed, but the company doesn’t think this is too big of a problem:

“Our scanner is one of the slowest in the world, but it will make you one of the fastest people! It does your work for you. You simply put the model on the table and that’s it. You can work on something else while you leave the D3D-s to handle all the hard work. No other scanner offers such luxury! Scanning with amazing accuracy, the D3D-s processes a huge amount of data and isn’t as fast as other less refined scanners. That said, it is more accurate and thorough than handheld scanning. Let the scanner scan!”

 

There are still over two weeks left in the Kickstarter campaign for the new D3D-s scanner, and the company has already raised over half the necessary funds. There are still some early bird rewards left as well. With its last crowdfunding campaign, D3D-s fulfilled its original commitment to the Kickstarter backers, and even went above and beyond by providing an updated USB 3.0 camera and advanced scanner body with new electronics. So if you’re in the market for a slow but accurate, less expensive jewelry 3D scanner, the D3D-s may be what you’re looking for.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

The post Kickstarter Campaign Continues for High-Resolution Jewelry 3D Scanner appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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New CAD Part! Adafruit Crickit HAT for Pi

We’re working on a Raspberry Pi 3D scanner with the Adafruit Crickit HAT. Check out our 3D hangouts live stream were we demo the prototype and discuss the project.

Download Adafruit Crickit HAT CAD files

Adafruit CAD Files

Need some 3D models for your enclosure or assembly? We have a parts library of common parts and breakouts hosted on github. These models can be downloaded in different formats like STEP, STL and more. Electronic components like the displays, connectors and more can be downloaded from our parts github repo.

3D Parts Library on GitHub

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CAD_Parts

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3D Printing News Briefs: May 16, 2019

We’ve got plenty of business news for you in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, starting with Additive Manufacturing Technologies’ impressive growth as of late. ExOne has announced a collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and DigiFabster has announced several updates to its platform. Moving on to new product launches, Shining3D has a new industrial metrology system, and peel 3d introduced a new affordable 3D scanner.

Additive Manufacturing Technologies Showing Rapid Growth

L-R: Gavin Minton and David Manley

UK-based Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) was founded in 2017 and is now emerging from semi-stealth mode and into full commercial production with its automated post-processing and finishing solutions for 3D printed parts. The company is showing rapid growth forecasts, and has been opening new US facilities, announcing partnerships, and hiring important personnel to help with its mission of providing the industry with industrial AM post-processing. AMT has made two important strategic additions to its Global Innovation Centre in Sheffield, appointing David Manley as Non-Executive Chairman and hiring Gavin Minton as the Aftersales and Customer Experience Manager.

“These are indeed exciting times at AMT as we aggressively market and sell our PostPro3D post-processing systems for AM parts having moved from the semi-stealth mode we have been operating in for a couple of years. We have been growing rapidly, but now we are moving to the next level — with our technology capabilities, our facilities and our brilliant team. We are really excited to welcome David and Gavin to AMT — they will be fundamental to our continued growth strategy,” said Joseph Crabtree, CEO at AMT.

“The post-processing step has long been the Achilles heel for AM as it moves to being a true mass manufacturing technology, and we are proud to offer our fully automated solution, which is already revolutionising the ways in which manufacturers integrate AM as a mass production tool. AMT is working in partnership with numerous OEMs, vendors and material suppliers to take the pain out of post-processing with an intelligent and collaborative approach, and we are scaling up production globally in order to share the progress we have made with our post-processing solutions. David and Gavin will join our team to provide key support in this mission.”

ExOne Announces Collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The ExOne Company, which manufactures 3D printers and provides 3D printing services to industrial customers, is collaborating with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to continue advancements in binder jet 3D printing technology. Binder jetting is important because it offers lower operating costs, and maintains higher levels of productivity, than many other AM technologies, and ExOne is an industry leader in non-polymer binder jet 3D printing. Its collaboration with ORNL is targeted initially on developing technology for new binder jet systems, leveraging ORNL’s instrumentation and advanced data analysis methodologies, as well as the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at ORNL, in order to optimize chemistry and process parameters for its sand and metal systems.

“By collaborating with a world-class lab like Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we accelerate ExOne’s binder jetting technology capabilities,” said Rick Lucas, ExOne’s Chief Technology Officer. “We believe these collaborative efforts will effectively and efficiently result in the establishment of new materials, binders and process developments, retaining our significant edge over competitors and other technologies in the industrial manufacturing space.”

DigiFabster Announces Platform Updates

3D printing software and services provider DigiFabster, which uses its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to help companies easily automate and streamline certain business processes, announced that it had made several important enhancements to its platform this spring that will benefit many different types of users, including 3D printing service bureaus. The company has many customers who use HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology, which accepts the 3MF file format, and DigiFabster’s platform now supports 3MF direct uploads through its web-based widget.

DigiFabster also enabled a new feature so that customers can accept purchase orders as a form of payment, and modified the code for its Floating button installation so that it can adapt to different screen widths. Another new capability makes it possible for CNC users, like machine shops, to easily change their pricing based on how complex the machine work is, and the DigiFabster system was also updated to automatically check for wall thickness, so that the files customers receive are ready.

SHINING 3D Launched New Metrology Products

Chinese 3D printing and digitizing company SHINING 3D recently attended the international Control trade fair for quality assurance, and released its latest industrial metrology solution at the event. Three products make up the portable system – the FreeTrak optical scanner, Freescan Trak 3D scanner, and FreeTrak Probe – which work separately and together to offer a comprehensive industrial scale measurement solution.

The versatile FreeTrak system of the wireless solution can capture the scanner structure’s spatial position in real time, and also allows the user to move the part, or tracker, during measurement without the results being compromised, which makes it perfect for use in unstable environments. The FreeTrak Probe, a portable CMM probing system created for use in industrial environments, is not “susceptible to environmental influences” like position changes and vibration, and can be used to generate highly accurate data even in challenging places. The FreeTrak system is now being integrated into SHINING 3D’s metrology and industrial solution ecosystem.

peel 3d Introduces Affordable 3D Scanner

Canadian 3D scanner developer peel 3d is on a mission to provide universal access to affordable, professional-grade 3D scanning technology. Located in Québec, the peel 3d team just launched the peel 2, a brand new variant of its peel 1 scanner that has three cameras instead of just one, for maximum accuracy, resolution, and realism. Powered by Creaform technology like its predecessor, the easy to use peel 2’s integrated color-capture functionality allows users to archive objects in high definition, as well as in their original colors, and monitor the accuracy and progress of the surface coloring. The new peel 2 also features new and improved peel 2.0 software with more functionalities, in addition to a system that uses a scanned object’s texture to improve its ability of positioning itself accurately in space.

“peel 2 pushes back all technical boundaries and redefines the concept of affordable 3D scanners,” stated François Leclerc, the head of the peel 3d initiative. “It will appeal as much to artists wishing to switch over to digital as it will to medical professionals wanting to scan the human body or mechanics working with existing components. It is by far the most comprehensive entry-level scanner on the market.”

The peel 2 is available for purchase online from peel 3d and select retailers for $7,490.

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XYZprinting Showcases da Vinci Color mini 3D Printer, Announces UK Launch of da Vinci Color AiO, at IFA 2018

[Image: XYZprinting via Twitter]

One of the oldest industrial exhibitions in Germany opened its doors to the public in Berlin on Friday as IFA 2018 began. Many additive manufacturing companies choose to showcase their latest products at this annual show – last year, for instance, Taiwan-based desktop 3D printer manufacturer XYZprinting introduced its da Vinci Color 3D printer.

[Image: Sarah Goehrke]

At this year’s show, the company will be introducing the consumer-oriented da Vinci Color mini, in addition to exhibiting its award-winning da Vinci Color AiO, which was officially introduced at CES 2018. But on the first day of IFA 2018, the company also announced the official UK launch of the AiO, which it calls the first voice-controlled, full-color FFF 3D printer in the world with an inbuilt engraver and 3D scanner.

“This latest innovation is a significant step forward for 3D printing, particularly for desktop users. Being able to control your printer with something as intuitive as simply speaking will open up 3D printing to a wider range of people,” said XYZprinting CEO Simon Shen.

“The AiO is aimed at those that have not used 3D printing a lot previously or not used it at all. Being able to tell the printer what you want it to do will make it simple to navigate, as well as letting you search from the XYZ 3D gallery. This means that if you would like to find a 3D model of a vase, you would just say ‘search for a vase for me’ and the 3D gallery would bring up all vases on the gallery to choose from.

“The added features of the printer, the scanner and the engraver, make the AiO the most complete desktop 3D printing unit ever developed, giving entrepreneurs and designers the chance to bring their ideas to life.”

The AiO, which stands for All in One, has certainly grown since its first iteration two years ago as the da Vinci 1.0 Pro 3-in-1. The handy desktop 3D printer, scanner, and engraver will give designers, educators, engineers, and entrepreneurs alike the ability to use intuitive voice commands to easily control the system. In addition to 3D scanning objects, users can 3D print full-color objects through the use of simple voice activation, and can later engrave those same prints as well.

[Image: Sarah Goehrke]

Actually, this last may not be true – the da Vinci 1.0 Pro 3-in-1 was only able to engrave objects made out of cardboard, leather, and wood, which the da Vinci Color AiO can’t actually 3D print. But, the old version had the laser engraver as an optional module, while the updated 3D printer features an inbuilt engraver, so maybe things have changed?

Regardless, the da Vinci Color AiO makes it easy for users to replicate and personalize designs with the built-in 3D scanner and engraver. It also features full-color 3D printing – the company’s 3D Color Jet technology mixes and sprays CYMK color droplets onto white PLA filament deposit layer by layer, “achieving full-colour spectrum accuracy and precision,” according to XYZprinting.

The desktop 3D printer also features a new EZ-removable print bed, with a 20 x 20 x 15 cm build volume that helps prints adhere to the bed while still being easy to remove from it. The print bed is also auto-leveling, so you never have to worry about the accuracy of your prints.

The coolest thing about the da Vinci Color AiO, at least in my opinion, is its voice control. My husband and I just purchased an Amazon Fire Stick, and I’m still tickled at my newfound ability to hold down the microphone button and say things like, “Alexa, go to Netflix” and “Alexa, add cereal to the grocery list.” Imagine how much cooler this feature is with a 3D printer: the da Vinci Color AiO allows users to calibrate the 3D printer, prep their print jobs, pause 3D printing, conduct maintenance on the system, and receive status updates on their prints, all with just their voice. This makes me feel like we’re one step closer to asking the computers on our spaceships to locate Commander Data…

XYZprinting is exhibiting at IFA 2018 through Wednesday, September 5th, in Hall 12, Stand 107 of the Berlin Exhibition Grounds at Messe Berlin. At the event, the company will be launching the da Vinci Color mini, a compact version of its original full-color 3D printer that’s designed for use at home and in schools and offices. The accessible mini 3D printer features an intuitive user experience, thanks to its 5″ color LCD display screen, and will retail for the recommended price of £1,599 beginning in December.

The da Vinci Color AiO will be available for purchase starting in September, for the recommended price of £2,699, through the company’s network of partner resellers.

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