 American manufacturer Espritdent is using Delcam's DentMILL software to produce restorative dental substructures in Zirconia and other non-metallic materials up to 30% faster. The system is a key part of the company's mission to increase throughput at all levels, reduce costs and overheads, and maintain the highest levels of accuracy.
"We actually have more than eighteen years working with CADCAM solutions in the aerospace, semiconductor and medical industries,'' said Chris Scharf, Executive Director at Colorado-based Espritdent. "For the last six years, we have taken that experience and knowledge, and built a solid network of dental labs throughout the United States that use our products on a daily basis.''
Espritdent's comprehensive high-speed services set it apart from traditional dental CADCAM houses. The company provides two service solutions. The first gives small labs access to advanced technology without a large capital outlay. Small labs send dental models directly to Espritdent for scanning, designing and manufacturing. The finished product is sent back in three to four days.
The second solution focuses on medium to large labs that want in-house scanning and design capabilities but don't want to be involved with machining. These labs purchase the Espritdent Elite scan and design system to use at their premises. The data collected are then transmitted over the private Espritdent network for manufacturing.
All the manufacturing is all based on Delcam's DentMILL machining software.
Dentmill is a standalone, knowledge-based CAM system for the manufacture of copings, bridges and implant bridges, and abutments in ceramics and titanium. It includes an interface with icons specific to dental applications making the system easy for dental technicians to learn, automatic nesting options to ensure the most efficient use of material, and highly-automated operation so that multiple copings and bridges can be produced quickly and efficiently.
One of its major advantages is that DentMILL is a completely 'open' CAM system that accepts data from any dental design system or scanner capable of exporting data in the STL format used widely within the industry. Similarly, it can output machining tool paths to virtually any CNC machine. Most other dental CAM programs are part of a 'closed' system that can only work with unique data formats or specific machining equipment.
According to Mr. Scharf, "We currently use the Delcam software as our solution for taking on complex dental designs. The results have been excellent. It is easy for non-technical staff to use and has significantly improved our milling efficiency. Our throughput has increased by up to 30% or more in some cases.''
Espritdent uses advanced computer-controlled high-speed machining systems with the Delcam software to provide superior results in fit and predictability of the dental substructures. "We have produced 1,000s of dental frameworks, but, with DentMILL, we've been able to produce more of them with fewer machines,'' Mr. Scharf said.
With DentMILL, Espritdent has taken the production of dental structures to a new level of accuracy and consistency, while helping to reduce the time the patient has to wait for dental replacements.
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