3D Printing–WOW Dental Experience

3D printing is an amazing addition to what we can do in our Rock Hill dental office. Clearly, 3D printing is improving the dental experience for the patients and dentists at a fast pace.

As a young dentist (and a bit of a nerd), I am excited about the technological advances that are changing my profession. And I especially enjoy using our 3D printer to move our dental treatment options forward.

Please forgive me if this blog post is too dental nerdy. I’m just excited…about the future of dentistry with 3D printing.

Dr. Will Cranford

Read this post to see what technology allows us to print in our local dental office. Also, see how patients better understand their treatment needs when the dentist uses the 3D printer.

3D Printer and Rock Hill, SC

At Cranford Dental, we strive to provide Rock Hill with the latest and greatest in dental technology. Of course, I feel fortunate to have joined a practice that has stayed at the forefront of improvements in dentistry.

Recently, Cranford Dental incorporated a 3D Printer into the practice.

Dr. Will Cranford on Rock Hill Radio WRHI: 3D Printing (2 minutes)

SprintRay made our 3D printer. This company makes 3D printers exclusively for dentists (and their spokesperson is Usain Bolt which is unrelated but still cool.)

The SprintRay Pro95 is a resin printer. This means it takes a liquid resin, then stacks layers 0.05 mm thick on top of each other to create a variety of dental devices.

How We Use Our 3D Printer at Cranford Dental

We have had our 3D printer for about 1 year. Already, it is improving our efficiency and ability to educate our patients.

Here are ways we are using our printer:

Study Models

We often make study models to use in evaluating the best dental treatment for your specific needs.

Here is how we use 3D technology to make models:

• First, we take 3D scans of your teeth and gums using a CEREC scanner.
• Then we send the scans to our 3D printer.
• Finally, we quickly print highly accurate models of your teeth.

Gone are the goopy impressions that clog your mouth and taste terrible. And for the dentist, gone are the (often) inaccurate stone models that easily break.

How does this help you?

We use these models to help develop your personalized treatment plan. Then we can show you specific things wrong with individual teeth.

Understandably, these models help when the dentist and patient work together to decide on the treatment that will best help the patient.

Also, the models help our dentists create custom products, such as orthodontic retainers and whitening trays. Our patients love the good fit and quick turnaround time that the 3D printer allows.

Night Guards

Occlusal dysfunction (grinding or TMJ pain) affects millions of Americans. To help, we will take a scan of your mouth with our 3D printer. Then, using AI design, we print a custom night guard.

Best of all, you will have your night guard the next day.

I remember the first night guard I ever made. It was created using the old method of alginate impressions and acrylic. At delivery, I had to adjust the nightguard for nearly an hour.

Still, the patient came back 2 more times before the night guard functioned as it was supposed to.

Good news–if you lose or damage your nightguard, give us a call. No need to take new scans. We can simply print a new nightguard with no hassle.

Smile Design

With 3D printed smiles we can more easily communicate, dentists-to-patient, about what we want to accomplish.

I used the computer to design new teeth for this patient.

First, I added virtual teeth to the smile. Next, I made the look and feel of them as natural and esthetically pleasing as possible.

Finally, we printed a model so that the patient could see her new smile.

Together we discussed the changes to this smile in concrete terms with no confusion.

This video shows the steps in designing and printing crowns for this patient:

Our dentists welcome patient input if there is something you want changed before your new crowns are made. With models and computer imaging, you can show us exactly what you like and don’t like before we begin treatment.

Temporary Partial Dentures

Printing temporary partial dentures is the newest application of 3D printing at Cranford Dental. Now we can replace missing teeth in 1 day!

In fact, the 3D printing of partial dentures can replace 1-6 teeth in a single day.

Sometimes, there is nothing that can be done to save a tooth. Understandably, extracting a tooth is often a scary thought for patients. Especially if this means that you have to walk around with a gap in your smile.

Thankfully, with 3D printing we can relieve some of your worries.

The process is extremely easy for the patient:

• Before the extraction, we take 3D scans of teeth.
• We use 3D design software to replicate the look and shape of teeth he is losing.
• If needed, we design improvements to these teeth.
• We print new teeth that same day.

Example-Printed Partial Denture

Below are a series of images that document a recent case where I made a 3D printed partial for a patient in 1 day.

This patient’s upper molar broke at the gum line. Unfortunately, this tooth supported a bridge for the tooth in front of it.

We removed the tooth and examined photos and digital images. The gap where the teeth were missing showed from both the front and side views.

This patient did not want to walk around with a large gap showing. We

We assured her that she would have a nice smile back before she left our office.

We used our 3D scanner and printer to design and print a partial denture to fill the gap.

The above photos show the computer design and the teeth the printer made from our design.

We printed a partial in less than two hours for the patient.

 The partial denture fit perfectly!

This patient was very happy that she could leave our office the same day with a nice smile. In fact, no one would know that she had lost teeth that day.

The Future of 3D Printing

We constantly innovate and improve for a better patient experience. Thus as technology and materials improve we will be able to offer new and better services from our 3D Printer.

Surgical Guides for Implants

We are working now on combining 3D x-rays with 3D printing. Then we will be able to make surgical guides for the placement of implants.

What does this mean? With the 3D x-ray we will be able to see the exact location of things inside your bone such as roots of adjacent teeth, nerves, blood vessels, and sinuses. We will print guides that will place implants in the perfect location to facilitate the best results.

Temporary Crowns and Bridges

Using our 3D printer combined with 3D design software we will create temporary crowns and bridges that look good and fit perfectly. This will allow you to leave our office with beautiful teeth if you are waiting on your final dental work.

Someday soon, I hope that we will be able to print permanent crown. This recently got FDA approval. Currently, 3D printing materials are not strong enough to last long term for crowns.

Complete Dentures

Earlier I touched on how the creation of Partial Dentures (the replacement of a few teeth) is possible using our 3D printer. Sometime in the near future we will be able to make Complete Dentures (replacement of all of your teeth) using the 3D printer.

Anyone who has had a new denture made will tell you it’s a complicated process. Even worse, there are many appointments (usually 5-6) and often adjustment appointments afterwards.

Comparatively, 3D printed dentures could be created in just 2 appointments. They would fit comfortably and function with no adjustments necessary.

Recently, I was able to scan a patient’s existing denture and 3D print a new try-in denture to check the look and fit. Soon, we could be able to do so much more.

How Dental 3D Printing Helps You

If you made it this far through my nerdy diatribe I salute you. Believe it or not, there are even more things possible with 3D printing.

But I won’t bore you with more details.

However, I can’t wait to show you in person the way 3D printing can give you a better smile. You will love knowing exactly how your smile would look with dental treatment.

Schedule your appointment now and explore the possibilities. We love working with long time patients and new visitors to Cranford Dental on improving their smiles.