Fabricating full dentures with traditional methods can be cumbersome for practitioners and patients. It often requires multiple patient visits for making assessments, impressions, and try-ins, and after these visits, there is still a long wait time for the final clinical dentures.
In an article published in Inside Dental Technology, Andrew C. Johnson, DDS, MDS, CDT, and Gregori M. Kurtzman, DDS present a case for how to streamline denture design and fabrication using a 3D printing workflow, including:
- Design/Fabricaiton of Try-ins
- Esthetic Try-in and Clinical Records
- Printing Final Dentures
- Clinical Delivery
A digital denture workflow leverages intraoral scanning and 3D printing to digitize traditional denture workflows. With digital and 3D printing technology, try-in denture designs can be easily clinically validated. Patient requests can also easily be applied in-office using digital design software, without requiring additional visits. Once esthetics are approved, the final dentures can be printed, post processed, and finished within a few hours, in-office, reducing total treatment time and costs than most traditional denture techniques.
Using a digital workflow and 3D printing simplifies in-office denture design and fabrication. The digital process decreases the number of clinical visits and prosthesis production time required, improving patients’ experience of the process and results. Digital denture and 3D printing workflows also reduce the necessary number of appointments, improving chairside productivity and profitability for dental practices. Read the full publication for more details on streamlining denture design and fabrication using digital dentistry and 3D printing workflows.