Sescoi gets its teeth into dental project

This 30-month, French government-funded project is lead by the French UNPPD (Union Nationale Patronale des Prothesistes Dentaires) and AFNET, an association that promotes common standards in data exchange. The objectives of Prodentic are to create a digital process for the design and manufacture of dental prostheses that can be economically implemented by the majority of practitioners; agree a common format for CAD data exchange; and achieve full traceability for prosthetic data throughout their entire lifecycle in line with European traceability directives. Sescoi's experience and knowledge associated with the development of their own software – the WorkNC®DENTAL automatic dental CAMCAD and the WorkPLAN Enterpise custom manufacturing ERP systems - will contribute to the success of the project, said Sescoi. The driving force behind the Prodentic project is the need to reduce the cost of dental prostheses in order to counter low-cost competition. Achieving commonality for CAD data exchange between the systems used by dentist, prosthetists and sub-contractors is critical to the success of the project and will ultimately give laboratories greater freedom to choose the solutions that best suit their individual needs. Improvements in quality and reductions in delivery times of dental prostheses are also anticipated for adopters of the new information technology, as the IT solutions developed will incorporate best practice methodologies. Furthermore, prosthesis traceability, improved business processes and prosthesis lifecycle management will meet the requirements of European directives. Dental implant manufacturers will be able to keep accurate control of production costs and progress. The proposed high tech solutions will be evaluated by a representative group of dental prosthetists and practitioners.