3D printing has come to dentistry in a big way. But choosing the right printer for your practice or lab is about much more than just the hardware. There are a handful of printers on the market today with sufficient accuracy and speed to satisfy the needs of most dentists. As desktop stereolithographic (SLA) printers mature, the spec-sheets seem to be telling a story of converging capabilities and dental 3D printing materials.
What is a Dental 3D Printing Material?
When we talk about resin or other 3D printing technologies that are ‘dental’, what do we mean? If you want to cut through the noise in the 3D printing market, this is an extremely important question to ask. Compared to other 3D printing customers, dentists have unique and non-negotiable needs for their manufacturing systems. A dental 3D printing material is a resin designed and manufactured specifically for the production of final-placement dental appliances and functional dental models.