Dental 3D Printing Technologies
Today, three 3D printing technologies are common in dental: stereolithography (SLA), digital light processing (DLP), and material jetting. Each technology can deliver the precision and accuracy needed for dental applications, but quality can vary among different machines and systems. Spend the time to understand each technology, but remember that it’s more important to evaluate specific equipment and judge based on part quality, ease of use, reliability, and cost.
Stereolithography (SLA)
In stereolithography, a vat of liquid resin is selectively exposed to a laser beam across the print area, solidifying resin in specific areas. Stereolithography is highly accurate and has the best surface finish of the three technologies. SLA printers offer large build volumes and a wide range of materials for various applications. Switching materials is as easy as swapping the resin tank and cartridge. The combination of small footprint, simple workflow, and low price make desktop SLA printers well-suited for both dental labs and practices.
Digital Light Processing (DLP)
Digital light processing operates with the same chemical process as SLA, but uses a digital projector as a light source to solidify the resin, rather than a laser. DLP printers have a small footprint, simple workflow, and wide range of material options, but at a substantially higher cost than desktop SLA printers. DLP parts also tend to show voxel lines—layers formed by small rectangular bricks due to digital screen—and have a generally lower quality surface finish.
Material Jetting
Material jetting (PolyJet and MultiJet Modeling) 3D printers work similarly to inkjet printing, but instead of jetting drops of ink onto paper, they jet layers of liquid resin onto a build tray and cure them instantly using light. Material jetting technologies were the most common in the dental industry a few years ago, but expansion was limited by their high cost and the large size of the machines. They require extensive post-processing and the surface finish of parts produced with this technology is generally inferior to SLA or DLP. Material jetting systems have high throughput, but can only be used for a limited range of applications due to the costly, proprietary materials.
How to Evaluate 3D Printing Solutions
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