EOS gets its teeth into productive dental implant production

Until now, dental implants have traditionally been made out of metal via a casting process that enables a technician to produce 20 dental frames per day. Laser-sintering is a superior and more productive method: one fully-automated laser-sintering machine can produce up to 450 parts for dental crowns and bridges within 24 hours, and all of the finished parts are of the same consistently high quality. The technological heart of dental e-Manufacturing, the EOSINT M 270 laser-sintering system, can produce dental implants by direct metal laser-sintering (DMLS) using a focused, solid-state laser. The machine is fed with CAD data to produce, from metal powder and in only a few hours, the most complex of geometries which exhibit excellent mechanical properties, surface quality and detail resolution. The CobaltChrome SP2 alloy was developed by EOS especially for the dental industry for use in the EOSINT M 270. At the International Dental Show, IDS 2009, held in Cologne during March, EOS showed the entire dental manufacturing process chain. All the steps involved in laser-sintering crowns and bridges were demonstrated, from the initial scanner to the creation of the 3D CAD data and the laser-sintering machine, ending with the finished veneered product - the skill, which remains in the hands of the dental technician. Commented Martin Bullemer, EOS key account manager medical, "I am convinced that cost control as well as flexible and rapid product cycles will determine the future of the dental industry. Manufacturing with laser-sintering offers both of these advantages."