Sophisticated dentures and dental implants can only become prevalent through user-friendly design software.
Dentistry continues to experience its own Industry 4.0 renaissance. Back in June, engineering.com reported on Desktop Health’s foray into 3D printing dentures. This month, Germany-based ModuleWorks has established four new business areas, one of which is Digital Dentistry. At its core, Digital Dentistry allows for the seamless integration of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) to create high quality, cost-effective customized inlays, veneers, bridges and dental implants.
“Our partners are software vendors making CAD/CAM solutions or standalone CAM solutions, and together we target global players who are looking to provide complete validated solutions for the users,” explained Soroosh Eghbali, head of CAM Automation and Digital Dentistry. “This includes dental machine tool builders, system integrators and resellers. Our large portfolio and development capacity brings one key value: a reduced time-to-market for highly-customized CAM solutions. Our software enables high quality and accurate restorations which are first-time-right. There is also less waiting time and chair time, for example. In practice, a restoration can be milled in just less than 10 minutes—that enables single-visit dentistry. So, in the end, the patients have a better dentist experience with restorations providing more comfort and pleasing aesthetic.”
Dental Framework Streamlines CNC Machining
As a plug-and-play CAM software solution, Dental Framework serves as an integrated CAM kernel that expedites calculations and machining times. Put simply, a variety of verified machining templates are created which easily integrate with any CAM software used by the client. Each template contains a list of specific toolpaths based on the product being manufactured (i.e., crowns, implants, veneers or bridges). In layman’s terms, a toolpath is the path a machining tool takes to cut, carve or melt a particular geometry on a part.
As such, all users have to do is select the dental part being made and Dental Framework will automatically select the most time-efficient toolpath. The selected toolpath can be further modified by the user to create simple or complex, highly customized dental products.
“Our dental CAD/CAM components bring all the advantages of high-performance manufacturing to dental milling labs and chair-side application,” said Eghbali. “With our powerful and flexible dental CAM software, we offer each of our dental original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners a unique manufacturing approach tailored to optimize the performance of their individual kinematics and tooling.”
ModuleWorks offers a gamut of toolpath calculations:
- 5-axis machining is used for roughing, patterning, meshing and finishing by over 60 percent of the world’s prominent CAM vendors. Coupling quick toolpath calculations and post-processing support, ModuleWorks’ 5-axis machining solution comes in three different packages—basic, standard and professional.
- 4-axis machining is used for creating automotive and oil field components such as crankshafts, drill heads and camshafts.
- 3-axis machining is used for creating meshes and gouge-free roughing.
- Turning offers many different toolpaths for turn-mill machining and lathes, including roughing, facing, grooving and profiling to produce geometrically complex parts.
- Adaptive toolpath, at its core, uses a consistent force on the part at all times, lengthening the part’s lifecycle whilst reducing the time it takes to create the part. Adaptive toolpaths have a wide variety of applications when it comes to building complex, durable parts.
Along with toolpath selection, Dental Framework provides a complete statistical breakdown of the process. For example, it will list the percentage of air cuts, calculations about tool engagement and the total amount of the material that will be reduced during CNC machining. It will also display feed rate-based coloring and axis reversal detection.
A Comprehensive Dental Manufacturing Solution
Digital Dentistry doesn’t only cater to CNC manufacturing. As additive manufacturing continues to gain momentum in the world of manufacturing, ModuleWorks has also incorporated various dental 3D printing solutions that are all supported by centralized software. Like with CNC machining and measuring toolpaths, ModuleWorks software can shuffle through various CAM-supported 3D printing modules—fused filament fabrication (FFF), direct light processing (DLP), stereolithography (SLA) or selective laser melting (SLM)—and helps the user select the most time-efficient, tenable option. These modules are available as software add-ons for Dental Framework, thus creating a solution that supports both additive and subtractive manufacturing.
Similarly, fabrication through robotics is also possible with Dental Framework. Put simply, advanced robotics hardware is connected to ModuleWork’s catalog of machining toolpaths to produce geometrically complex parts in the most efficient way possible.
A Complete Digital Rendition
Just as important as supporting a plethora of manufacturing solutions, Dental Framework grants users the ability to run comprehensive, flexible simulations that aid in design. It offers a detailed 3D simulation of the part being produced through both additive and subtractive manufacturing. ModuleWorks’ software also lets users view full-scene collisions, simulate simple and complex toolpaths, run an analysis of the toolpath and optimization parameters, and add custom programmable logic controllers (PLCs) so as to run custom variables in the simulation.
Collisions are of particular importance to production efficiency as they lead to potentially expensive downtimes and repairs for the machines. Operational errors and programming errors are also possible. As such, ModuleWork’s collision avoidance system (CAS) protects the equipment against operational and faulty programming errors in real-time. CAS contains an independent UI, allowing it to be utilized as a standalone solution if required.
Keeping It Simple
With over 1000 man-hours, 200+ industry clients in over 17 countries, and 500,000 CAM/CAD devices currently using their software solutions, ModuleWorks has found a way to bridge the gap between complex processes and a user-friendly, easy-to-follow interface. The company also offers business development strategies and technical support. Working closely with the client, ModuleWorks helps identify the most trending dental CAM technologies, fosters mutually beneficial partnerships with other industry players, and isolates machining strategies that can be best incorporated with their software solutions.
“Our customers perceive ModuleWorks as a team which can address their requirements with a fast response time,” said Eghbali. “This depends on two key elements. Firstly, we have over 150 software developers working on the entire manufacturing sector from aerospace to high-precision optics, so we take the best bits of our technology and make a validated solution for each customer. Secondly, we are the most widely integrated solution in the dental CAD/CAM space. This experience means that we can understand the requirements and guide our customers better.”
For more information on ModuleWorks, click here.
