The famous dental company Straumann Group is an early adopter of ceramic additive manufacturing technology and one of the early users of Xjet's ceramic nanojet 3D printing technology (NanoParticle Jetting).
Straumann has adopted this technology for new product iterations and proof of concept. Recently, the two parties announced that they will cooperate to promote the application of ceramic nanojet 3D printing technology in the production of dental final products.
Dental giants' confidence in 3D printing
According to Straumann, they are scoring the first product development project related to Xjet ceramic nanojet 3D printing technology and pushing the application of this technology in such dental products to the final production stage.
Straumann uses ceramic materials in many dental products. When he learned about ceramic nanojet 3D printing technology, he launched an applied research on it. The 3D printing equipment used by Straumann is the Carmel 1400 AM system.
Straumann expressed confidence in the quality, fine detail and accuracy of the parts printed by this ceramic 3D printing technology, and believed that this technology can effectively expand the production scale. The density of ceramic parts printed by this technology is very high, close to 100%. For the support structure required for 3D printed parts, Xjet uses water-soluble support materials, which makes it easy to remove the support after printing.
Water-soluble support, low shrinkage and high density are the main advantages of ceramic nanojet 3D printing technology.
Straumann said that he already knows the advantages of additive manufacturing very well, so he can see the design freedom and complex geometric shapes provided by 3D printing technology will be able to expand the possibility of new products.
The Straumann Group is dedicated to the development, manufacture and supply of dental implants, instruments, biological materials, CAD/CAM restorations, digital devices, software and invisible orthotics. Applications include restoration, orthodontics and preventive dentistry.
Straumann SNOW ceramic planting system.
In the field of ceramic dental products, Straumann's very important product is its ceramic implant system. One of the new ceramic implant systems is Straumann SNOW. The following is the share of Straumann's dental users about the advantages, design and processing challenges of this ceramic implant system. These application experiences have certain reference significance for understanding the space that the future ceramic 3D printing technology can play in the processing of ceramic planting systems.
The application of dental ceramic implants is not only related to aesthetics. Dental implants are initially fixed anchors, placed in place to fit crowns or multi-unit structures, but long-term implant success depends on strong osseointegration and stable integration in soft tissue. Ceramic implants have obvious advantages in soft tissue osseointegration. Its epithelial cuff is more stable than titanium implants, and plaque formation is significantly reduced, both of which are positive factors for long-term stability.
Straumann SNOW is the first all-ceramic implant system with reversible screw fixation at the bone level, including ceramic implants, ceramic abutments and ceramic connecting screws. It features a true bone-level design with platform switches and excellent mucosal adaptability in the important transition area of the implant abutment. Thanks to the bone-level design, this implant is suitable for all surgical applications in all bone quality implants, including implantation immediately after extraction, while performing internal or external sinus lifting or extensive concomitant enlargement.
Compared with other ceramic implants, SNOW has some unique advantages in the field of repair. The SNOW ceramic planting system can provide a large number of standard abutments for repair, and can provide a simple solution for almost all situations. Impressions are suitable for both indirect and direct oral scanning. The SNOW abutment is optimized for intraoral scanning, allowing direct scanning at the abutment level.
All ceramic implant systems on the market are based on zirconia (ZrO2) materials. However, these systems differ greatly in terms of macro design, safety integration, and long-term stability. Many ceramic implant systems are of one-piece design, and most are Tissue Level concepts. However, only a true bone-level implant system can provide all the advantages of this design. For example, even in the case of poor bone quality, it can be performed at the same time or sinus lift surgery to ensure no-load healing.
There are also serious differences in the connection between the abutment and the implant in the two-piece ceramic implant system on the market. Studies have shown that the conical connection is very stable, greatly reducing the risk of loosening or pumping effects of the known abutment of the hexagonal connection. This design promotes the long-term success of the prosthesis and the preservation of the gingival bone. However, the tapered connection made of ceramics requires extremely high manufacturing accuracy. This is why most ceramic implant brands currently do not provide this type of two-piece connection. In clinical applications, the choice of a classic one-piece design or a ceramic implant system such as SNOW depends on the bone quality of the patient.
In terms of materials, there are also huge differences in the manufacturing process from the original zirconia powder form to the finished implant, which has a significant impact on the mechanical stability and aging resistance of the implant. However, whether it is injection molding, milling from sintered materials, or milling from sintered and additionally compressed materials, it means that the strength values are very different.