Dexter, MI (734) 426-5220
SprintRay printer

Equipment Profile What is 3D Printing?

Our office is constantly pushing the boundaries of technology and what’s possible in dentistry. Working in unison with our iTero 3D Scanner, we also have cutting-edge 3D printing capabilities in-house with SprintRay to produce perfectly accurate dental models of your bite. From the printed models, we can then make both clear dental retainers and clear aligner treatments (like Invisalign).

Frequent Questions Learn More About 3D Scanning

Our iTero 3D scanner creates digital impressions of a patient's mouth using a hand-held wand that uses optical technology to capture highly detailed digital images of the inside of a patient's mouth. From there, that information is sent to our SprintRay printer, which then produces a perfectly accurate dental model. These 3D-printed teeth models are made from methacrylate-based photopolymerized resin, which is a very hard material.

Another benefit of having a digital scan of your bite is that it keeps your scan on file and can re-print a new model at any time. So, in situations where you have lost your retainer or aligner, just simply call our office, and we can have a new one made within a day or two. There is no need to return to the office to make a new impression, saving you time and money.

Only in situations where let’s say, you were not wearing your retainer and your teeth have shifted would it mean that you would have to return to the office for a rescanning of your bite.

When you have your braces removed, it’s important to start wearing a retainer as fast as possible. We try to get your retainers made the same day as your braces were removed but now longer than a day or two.

For patients doing clear aligner treatment, receiving your initial full set of retainers usually takes a week or two. But if you lose an aligner, you can usually get the replacement that day or within a day or two.

There are many different orthodontic appliances we use for patients. For some of our dental labs, we can submit your digital bite scan, and they can produce the needed orthodontic appliance from that scan. Otherwise, we will 3D print a dental model and send it to the lab. Overall, this makes the entire process much faster and more accurate, which means it usually fits in the patient's mouth properly the first time.