15 February 2022
CAD and Teeth? CAD Takes a Bite Out of The Dental Market
Ouch! Have you ever bitten down on an unpopped popcorn kernel? How about a piece of grit in some wholegrain bread, a fragment of almond shell or olive pit? If you have, you’ve no doubt had that “Oh, cr*p!” moment as your hand reflexively covers your mouth and your tongue switches to full-blown probe mode as it begins checking for damages.
CAD is not necessarily the first thing you would think of when you bust a tooth, but teeth are being helped significantly by computer-aided design.
Anything that makes that visit to the dentist shorter and less painful is a good thing.
When you are looking to replace that broken or lost tooth with a high-quality implant, you want to make sure that you have an accurate replica of the tooth, one that is going to fit well and that it is going to be comfortable.
Scanners have drastically improved in their ability to get an accurate picture of your teeth, and you want that picture’s accuracy to be reflected in the production values of the replacement. The titanium screws that the implants use to fuse into your jaw have remained fairly consistent throughout the development of implants, but the accuracy of the actual prosthetic has been getting better and better, both in terms of the shape and the color-matching.
The milling equipment allows for the construction of crowns, veneers, inlays and bridges from a single ceramic block. This process makes for a much more accurate final product, but it all starts with the CAD program (such as Autodesk’s Ember 3D, for example) and its ability to better capture those teeth.
The medical applications of CAD are expanding as materials technology improves. Need a replacement bone that is going to be a smooth fit? CAD can help. It has also helped in the construction of complex medical machinery as well, with machines such as microarrayers (a tool for comparing genes) and MRI machines benefitting from CAD design.
CAD/CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) dentistry has been around since 1985 and a report by Fortune Business Insights predicts that even after being impacted by the pandemic, we can anticipate an industry valued at $3.95 billion by 2028. This is being driven by both the increase in dental diseases and an accompanying demand for advanced dental solutions.
It is an interesting new field in CAD, and it is something that dentists are going to have to keep abreast of in order to make sure their practices remain relevant. Anything that makes that visit to the dentist shorter and less painful is a good thing. More accurate prosthetics are also going to cut down the amount of adjustment and maintenance that is needed. Currently, the US, which has had access to the technology for over 20 years, has seen only an eight to ten percent adoption of the technology. This is changing as a new generation of dentists, who have more familiarity with digital technology, are entering the market.
The CAD/CAM dentistry industry is anticipated to reach $3.95 billion by 2028.
At Axiom, we cut our teeth on creating third party software that makes the use of CAD technology easier. With each evolution of the technology, we are there with our users, eliminating the worst parts of their design job, and making life easier for them. Find out how we can help you sink your teeth into the future at AxiomInt.com.
