Over the course of the past decade, the dental industry has been revolutionized by 3D printing . Several different applications of have been developed, from fixing broken teeth to making flossing easier. Printing is done both in the dentist’s office and in labs, and it brings a new level of speed and ease to old procedures.
In dental 3D printing, prosthetics and orthodontics have to be printed with extreme precision to ensure a perfect fit. Such accuracy is only possible through resin-based printing, such as stereolithography (SLA) and digital light processing (DLP) printers. In these technologies, printed layers of resin are solidified (cured) by a light source: a laser in SLA printers and a projector in DLP. Recently, another technology, called PolyJet, has started being used by some manufacturers, with simpler processes and superior results.
3D printing in dentistry and orthodontics is relatively new, but it’s already impressively large and is constantly growing and developing. There are seemingly infinite ways for dentists to make use of 3D printers, and the future will undoubtedly bring about even more.
In the following sections, we’ll be highlighting the main applications and industry leaders in the dental 3D printing space. But first, let’s look at the wide-ranging scope of this technology and what’s holding it back from achieving its full potential.
Let’s leave 2020 behind and look forward to a new year, and new projects at Blender. To recap: in 2020, Blender saw huge developments, both technically and creatively. There were no less than four releases, including one Long-Term Support release. On the Studio side, a new Open Movie called Sprite Fright was greenlit, and is currently in the early stages of production. And this year, there are a bunch of other innovations coming up. Here, we share just a few. Everything Nodes This is a blockbuster project. By the time it’s matured, there will be whole new ways to create within Blender. As the name suggests, Everything Nodes allows you to use nodes to make almost all aspects of your projects, procedurally. Think of how nodes are currently used to craft shaders and materials, but then vastly expanded. So… why should you want to make everything with nodes? Well, this approach means that flexibility and granular control get a massive bump, ensuring that complex results are eas