Desktop Health Unveils New 3D Printer Series to Strengthen Dental Portfolio

Desktop Health, the recently launched healthcare business within Desktop Metal, Inc. (NYSE: DM), works to create 3D printing solutions for multiple areas of personalized medicine. This includes a focus on dental AM. Its proprietary Flexcera Base resin received FDA 510(k) clearance and CE Mark certification. The division also added cobalt chrome to its dental portfolio. Now, the portfolio has just grown even larger, as Desktop Health has announced the commercial launch of its high-precision Einstein dental series of 3D printers, as well as Flexcera Smile Ultra+ resin.

The Einstein series consists of three different printer solutions to fit varying customers needs, including dental labs and clinicians. Designed with the company’s proprietary NanoFit 385 technology for natural-looking finish, accurate fit, and excellent clarity, the Digital Light Processing (DLP) printers use Hyperprint technology to, as Desktop Health put it, “harness the power of heat and a closed-loop software upgrade.” According to the company, its new Einstein printers are highly accurate and up to 50% faster than the system that came before it. The firm doesn’t explicitly mention the predecessor model, but looks to be models from EnvisionTEC.

“The Einstein 3D printer, coupled with our next-generation Flexcera Smile Ultra+ resin, is a major breakthrough for the dental community. Combining advanced resin science with 3D printing technology delivers superior strength, aesthetics, and durability,” said Desktop Health’s President and CEO Michael Jafar. “A dentist can now print veneers, bridges, crowns, dentures, inlays, onlays and more in minutes. Beautiful, functional, same-day dental prosthetics with ceramic-like strength are now possible – with the added bonus of cutting patient waiting times from weeks to mere hours.”

Jafar previously told us that dental offices will be looking to “embrace new tools to elevate patient experience,” such as chair-side 3D printing of crowns, dentures, and teeth, and other tools that offer customized experiences while also decreasing the need for repeat visits.

The Einstein 3D printer series consists of the following models:

• The Einstein, designed for general dentists for chair-side printing
• The Einstein Pro, for small dental labs and specialists
• The Einstein Pro XL, which features the largest build envelope of the three and is meant for high-production dental labs

Pairing the versatile Einstein printers with the next-generation Flexcera Smile Ultra+ resin will give dental professionals a leg up in offering patients accurate, customized care when getting both temporary and permanent dental restorations.

Flexcera Smile Ultra+, which is described by the company as one of the strongest dental resins to receive FDA clearance for permanent use in patients’ mouths, was introduced in 2020 as a solution for temporary dental applications. This updated version uses NanoFit 385 technology, just like the Einstein printers, and is an FDA 510(k) cleared Class 2 medical device for permanent, 3D printable dental restorations. Desktop Health says in comparison to a competitor, dental prosthetics made with this material have an average 43% better marginal fit.

“As a dental professional, I see first-hand how the personalization of 3D printing for healthcare is impacting my patients. Patients care about the procedures offered by their dentists, and many are now considering switching to a dentist who uses more advanced technology,” said Dr. August de Oliveira, DDS, who owns a private practice in Encino, CA that offers same-day digital dentistry services. “For me, the combination of the Einstein 3D printer and Flexcera Smile Ultra+ resin will help this industry finally deliver applications with stunning clarity, a perfect, customized fit and an impressively natural-looking finish for models, dentures and everything in between.”

In order to enable good properties, this resin was formulated with long chain chemistry and the strength that ceramic offers. Desktop Health says that its Flexcera resins are three times more fracture-resistant than select competitors, and that for “the first time in dental prosthetics,” they have twice the moisture resistance to prevent discoloration and staining. Additionally, the resins offer a natural aesthetic with realistic translucency, giving smiles a good combination of strength, flexibility, and comfort. When using the new Einstein 3D printer series and Flexcera Smile Ultra+, Desktop Health says that dental providers can fabricate bridges, crowns, full and partial dentures, and veneers in one day.

In one month, our 5th annual Additive Manufacturing Strategies summit, co-hosted by SmarTech Analysis, will be held as a hybrid event online and in New York City. More than sixty speakers will be covering nine critical AM verticals in dozens of sessions from March 1-3, and one of these verticals is 3D Printing for Dentistry. To learn more about this established AM end-user industry, including current dental 3D printer trends, low-cost mass customization, and more, you can register for the event here.

(Images courtesy of Desktop Health)