At present, 3D printing can be simply divided into two applications in the medical field: one is biological 3D printing and the other is non-biological 3D printing. Technically speaking, making non-biological 3D printing is much simpler than biological 3D printing, and it is also the most widely used field. Especially in the field of orthopedics and dentistry, in the 3D Printing Culture Museum in Shanghai, there are 3D printed teeth made by 3D printing on display.
At present, the use of 3D printing technology in the field of dentistry is mainly used for the production of removable dentures, orthotics and dental implants, and in terms of current market performance, the dental industry is currently the most likely medical treatment for large-scale application of 3D printing technology. field. According to the well-known Smartch market research report, in 2020, the global 3D printing in the dental industry will reach 2.3 billion US dollars. So, why is 3D printing developing so rapidly in the dental industry? And according to relevant data, the current professional dental 3D printers have begun to be used on a large scale in dental medical institutions and denture processing factories. Why?
The main reason is that 3D printing has a great advantage over traditional production. We compare the two production methods: the first is the traditional production process (here, the production of porcelain teeth and metal teeth is taken as an example): impression-wax mold-sprue installation-embedding-lost wax-casting-surface treatment -Finishing-the final finished product; and using the 3D printing process: impression-scanning-modeling-3D printing processing-finishing-finished product;
It can be seen from the above processing flow that, compared with the traditional flow, the use of 3D printing greatly reduces the time and labor of the production process, and it has an advantage over the traditional in terms of material consumption. This is why many dental medical institutions and denture processing factories have begun to use 3D printers on a large scale.