Straight-Talk

Dean writes Agent Straight-Talk, a consumer blog on dental insurance and discount dental plans. Dean shoots from the hip highlighting best practices and trends within the dental insurance industry.

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Compare that percentage to an August 2014 Dental Wire article where fewer than 25% of dentists reported using digital technology, and its apparent how prevalent digital technology is becoming in the dental industry. 

One reason why 3D printing offers such rich possibilities for the dental world is patients’ mouths are different. 3D printing and imaging makes it possible to get accurate models of a patient’s detention, which helps to generate 3D-generated dental restorations. 

In other words, this new technology can lead to customized solutions for each patient.  

Even better, if your 3D-printed device doesn’t fit, the dentist merely reconfigures the 3D design without the time and expense of resubmitting the device to a lab and having the cost of a second device created. 

For example, 3D-printed dental crowns are one of the most common applications of dental 3D printing.  3D-printed crowns can be produced quickly and if a dental office is properly outfitted, can be made by dentists themselves.  

With the proper equipment a dentist can scan a patient’s teeth, accurately model the tooth to be outfitted for a crown and print the crown in their office.  If there is a mistake, the dentist simply reprints the crown. 

The drawback to the rapid proliferation of 3D dental technology is the cost.  Many dentists nearing the end of their careers are not wanting to invest the capital needed to go digital, but as younger dentists fill the profession’s ranks and as innovations continually bring down the costs of the new technology, look for more and more dental offices to be offering 3D technology services previously only seen in Hanna-Barbera's The Jetsons.  

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