Manufacturing dentures using 3-D printing methods makes the process fast, flexible and simple; and one company that is benefitting from this technology is CADSpeed, a CAD digital ‘milling centre’ based in Hanover.

It uses a Trumpf TruPrint 1000 to make dentures for dentists, orthodontists and dental laboratories throughout Europe; it says it is achieving significantly higher levels of productivity, along with improvements in product quality and far less material wastage, as a result of this investment.

Using traditional methods, a dental technician would normally produce one tooth in 20min, but in 2-3hr the Trumpf TruPrint 1000 (with twin laser beams working at the same time) can manufacture up to 70 teeth per cycle — less than 3min per tooth.

Trumpf (www.trumpf.com) says its TruPrint 1000 is the only small-format system to work with multiple lasers, adding that it also comes with digital connectivity— a wireless link to milling machines.

The conventional method of producing dentures is complex and time-consuming. Impressions of the patient’s teeth are taken and sent to a dental laboratory for a plaster cast to be made as a template for the dentures.

The basic shape is then created using die casting or milling before secondary finishing; the whole process can take several weeks.

However, with 3-D printing, CADSpeed can manufacture dentures overnight if required; the company also offers its clients the use of intra-oral dental scanners that allow dentists to digitally map a patient’s mouth in 3-D, negating the need for a plaster cast and making the whole process faster and more precise.

The owner of CADSpeed is Hindrik Dehnbostel (www.cad-speed.de), a ‘master dental technician’ who now employs a 38-strong team to manufacture dentures.

He tested the Trumpf TruPrint 1000 for three months before deciding to buy it; since being installed, the 3-D printer has been running three shifts, five days a week.