Formlabs, a 3D printing company that helps Dentist all around the world

Founded in September 2011, Formlabs is a Somerville, Massachusetts-based company. It is better known for raising nearly $3 million during a Kickstarter campaign and creating the Form 1 and Form 2 3D printers.

Most noteworthy, Formlabs has released qualified and ‘accessible’ 3D printing systems for dentists and any other CAD professional users; Its Core product is the Form2,  a 3D Printer that uses stereolithography (SLA) process.

Thanks to the company, dentistry branch is on its way to fully embrace digital workflows: Dental professionals are really close to replace old techniques with digital scans and additive manufacturing.

Is less than a year since Formlabs materials and its SLA 3D printing process did pioneer with the first biocompatible 3D printing resin on dental practitioners worldwide.

As a result, Formlabs has a growth Market on Dental field. More than 10,000 people use their Dental Sg resin to improve clinical outcomes, faster surgeries, and patients experiences. According to Gideon Balloch, Dental Product Lead at Formlabs:

“To date, Formlabs dental users have completed over 150,000 prints, and Form 2 printed guides have been used in more than 10,000 implant surgeries”.

Today, Formlabs announced 2 new resin materials for Dental applications

New materials are divided in 2:

1. Dental Model: a high accuracy resin for crown and bridge models with removable dies.
2. Dental LT Clear: a long-term biocompatible resin for direct-printing orthodontic appliances, such as splints and retainers.

Dental Model Resin

This material is a high precision resin specialized for crown and bridge models with removable dies. Up to 35 microns of accuracy,  the dies will tight fit, and most of all, have a smooth matte surface finish.

Dental LT Clear Resin

This is a class IIa biocompatible resin. Dental LT Clear enables to create splints, retainers and other orthodontic devices. its high resistance to fracture and damage helps by improving durability. Finally, this clear material is polished to get a transparency finish for aesthetic products.

Formlabs new biocomatible materials for  3D Printed Dentures (upcoming).

Seems like Formlabs is developing an integrated end-to-end workflow for dental manufacturers, who will need high – quality 3D printed dentures; Formlabs and partner Dental labs are currently running case studies and workflow test with this new biocompatible Denture Base and Teeth Resins, assumed to be released in fall 2017.

Formlabs also announced a partnership with 3Shape to improve the Medic Dental field.

Furthermore, the company today announced a partnership with 3Shape, a Denmark-based company that develops 3D Scanning and CAD/CAM software for dental practice. They started developing a complete software integration for digital workflows that helps dental professionals.

Formlabs-3Shape integration creates a cost-effective chairside 3D printing workflow that makes even same-day guided surgery possible! The partnership will also produce a powerful dental software for Orthodontic and Dental targets, which releasing plans will be discussed throughout the year.

The integration with 3Shape Implant Studio features:

• Automatic recognition of dental indication
• Smart orientation and support generation
• Automatic layout on the build platform
• Map of parts on the build platform for easy patient identification

In a certainly near future, Dental practitioners will be able to create guides ready for surgery by scanning with 3Shape Scanners, and also a full complete design in 3Shape Implant Studio software, then the production process would be as simple as clicking “Print” in Formlabs PreformSoftware.

In a couple of hours, Dental SG biocompatible resins would produce the dental piece:

“The Formlabs-3Shape integrated workflow streamlines my practice and allows me to do guided surgery efficiently and affordably”

Said Dr. Daniel Whitley III, DDS PA, who also claimed:

“I can go from patient scans, to planned case, to fully manufactured guide with only a few clicks of the mouse. It is really a significant pairing of cutting-edge technology from two innovative companies.”

In addition, Dental Product Manager at Formlabs, Gideon Balloch, said about the partnership:

“The integration between the Form 2 and industry-leading products from 3Shape enables dental CAD/CAM workflows so streamlined that even chairside 3D printing becomes possible […] 3Shape and Formlabs share a commitment in pioneering powerful, seamless, and accessible technologies. We’re excited to continue pushing new boundaries in digital dentistry together.”

Final thoughts

In conclusion, every set of teeth is unique, meaning that every dental appliance has to be custom-made. Moreover, the need for mass customization, and the small size of the final products, makes odontology a perfect application for 3D printing.

While, material properties were a barrier to broader application of this technology, new biocompatible materials are enabling dentists to 3D print a growing range of products.

You can See live demos of Formlabs’ new dental materials and integrated workflow with 3Shape for the first time next week at IDS 2017 (Koelnmesse, Germany, March 21-26): Hall 3.1, stand L70. Workshops will be available daily at 10:30AM and 2:30PM CET.