3M ESPE offers a sneak peak at intraoral scanner

“Fifty million impressions are taken every year in the U.S. and yet, 59% of those impressions are inadequate, according to the laboratory owner/manager respondents to LMT’s 2005 Trends Survey,” said Mike Girard, senior director, professional relations, during a 3M ESPE event at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers on February 23. This is a situation that 3M ESPE hopes to change with its 3M Intraoral Scanner currently being developed by Brontes Technology, a 3M Company.

Although a limited test sale of the scanner won’t start until the second half of this year, 3M wanted to give its customers a sneak peak of the system and at the digital crown and bridge production workflow options of the future. Using 3-D video and touch-screen technology, the dentist will be able to scan the prep, take a bite scan and send the digital impression data to the laboratory for digital margin marking and die cuts. The lab then sends the data to a processing center that will generate a photopolymer, quadrant or full arch model using SLA rapid prototyping technology. The model will be returned to the laboratory for use with both conventional and CAD/CAM processes and materials.

“The system will give the dentist the ability to capture high-speed, precise impressions and eliminate the need for shipping, disinfection, pouring models, die cutting and trimming, and articulation,” said Girard. “It’s important to note that our business model will include the laboratory and the service will be available to all laboratories, not just Authorized Lava Milling Centers.”

Also during the event, Jim Buchanan, 3M ESPE’s U.S. sales and marketing manager for lab and digital products, introduced the company’s new Lava Scan ST design system. Previously available only to Authorized Lava Milling Centers, this system gives labs the ability to scan a traditional model and digitally design the coping or framework in-house, and then send the data to a Lava Milling Center for milling.

“Our industry is in the early stages of transition from manual to digital production processes. This transition can sometimes be confusing and expensive in the short term but the long-term outcome will be beneficial to all. The key to easing the pain and risks of transition is managing it carefully,” said Buchanan. He cited the example of the hearing aid industry: in 2001, 80% of U.S. hearing aids were manufactured offshore and, like ours, it was a labor-intensive industry; in 2006, 80% of the work is back in the U.S., thanks to the implementation of CAD/CAM technology.

Both Buchanan and Girard urged attendees to create a digital plan and learn as much as possible to become a resource for their dentist-customers. “Understand how fast your customers expect to adopt new technology like intraoral scanning and don’t feel like you have to buy hardware in order to keep up and remain competitive,” Buchanan said. “The ship is not sailing without you: there are choices. Choosing the right partner can be more important than choosing to buy a system. Look at the big picture.”

“Many laboratory owners are saying that their posterior business is going down, but dentists aren’t prepping less teeth. “Why is this happening?” asked technician-educator Don Cornell, Newport Coast Oral Prosthetics, Newport Beach, California, of the 550 laboratory owners, managers and technicians attending Jensen Industries’ Evolution program on February 23 in Chicago. “Price point; more than ever, dentists aren’t willing to pay more than $100 to $150 for a posterior restoration because technology has made posteriors more of a commodity.”

To produce posteriors in that price range, you have two options, says Cornell: outsource to a low-cost offshore laboratory or use technology that allows more efficient and consistent production, such as the press-to-metal technique. “Although laboratory operators say pressed ceramics carry a higher material cost, the technique makes up for it with its significant labor savings. It’s not about having to find new technicians, it’s about utilizing new technology,” said Greg Harris, president, The Harris Group, another speaker at the meeting.

Another new technology that both speakers strongly advocated is CAD/CAM, saying the best way to incorporate CAD/CAM-fabricated restorations into your service is through outsourcing, especially if you own a small laboratory. “When it’s all said and done, what are we looking for? A zirconia coping. What is the best and most cost effective way for you to access that end product in your lab? Outsourcing; it’s cheaper to buy the end product than to make it yourself,” said Cornell, noting that buying a system involves more than just the initial equipment investment; there’s also the costs of maintenance and repair, inventory, remakes, labor and training.

Harris agreed: “Dentists aren’t buying the fact that you have a machine. They’re buying the fact that the coping is made the way you want it and with your top on it. Stay great at what you’re great at.” He suggested that outsourcing is especially useful in three situations:

Large span bridges. “If you own the system and chip the last unit on an 11-unit bridge, you pay for the block. If you sent the 11-unit bridge to an outsourcer and the eleventh unit broke, you wouldn’t even know it,” said Harris.

Restorations that aren’t your brand or for which there isn’t a high demand among clients. Ask your customers if they want to prescribe all-ceramic crowns and, if the majority say “no,” simply outsource them out when they do come in.

Restorations you don’t do well. “Don’t try to be all things to all people,” advised Harris.

With standing-room only, Jensen’s all-day program’s line-up also included ongoing table clinics and technical presentations by renowned Oral Design members Willi Geller, CDT, Michel Magne, CDT, and his brother, Pascal Magne, DMD, PhD; Russell DeVreugd, CDT, DeVreugd Dental Laboratory and International Dental Seminars, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Brad Jones, Professional Dental Arts, Boise, Idaho; Jason Kim, CDT, Jason J. Kim Dental Laboratory, Great Neck, New York; and Peter Pizzi, CDT, MDT, Pizzi Dental Studio, Staten Island, New York.

“The first dental implant was placed 42 years ago; why aren’t more patients now being treated with implants?” said Heliane Canepa, president of Nobel Biocare, at a MidWinter press conference in February. Her answers: fear of pain, affordability, time, allergies and bone quality/quantity—all concerns that must be addressed by the dental industry and communicated to the patient. “It’s all about focusing on the patient. The patient will drive the business,” she said.

To illustrate how the problem of time and fear of pain, for example, could be answered by Nobel Biocare’s Immediate FunctionTM implants—an immediate-load protocol that requires no healing time—a patient was at the event to attest to the relatively quick, painless, procedure.

The press conference was organized to announce the launch of Easy Esthetics, a line of esthetic, patient-oriented solutions including QuickTempTM Abutment Conical, a chairside-prepared abutment for multiple-unit temporaries; Procera Implant Bridge Zirconia and Procera Bridge Zirconia for full arch indications; and NobelRondoTM Press, a porcelain that can be pressed to Procera® alumina and zirconia substructures or used alone for inlays, onlays, overlays and veneers.