Formlabs Dental Academy: Free Educational Platform for 3D Printing in Dentistry

Formlabs has long been focused on dental 3D printing applications, and made things even more official by launching its Formlabs Dental unit in 2019. Today, the double unicorn announced that it’s launching a new educational platform called Formlabs Dental Academy, including both free and paid courses meant to teach dental lab technicians, orthodontists, and clinicians how to use and implement 3D printing into their dental businesses. The dental education platform will work to advance the use of SLA 3D printing in dentistry by offering webinars, online and in-person courses, guides, and more.

“Formlabs Dental delivers 3D printers, materials, and workflows to meet dental industry needs and support efficient, affordable personalized care, and improved patient outcomes. Formlabs Dental Academy is the next step towards empowering the industry to capture those benefits by growing professionals’ skillset, knowledge, and businesses with 3D printing,” explained Philipp Striebe, global dental marketing manager, Formlabs. “The platform provides free online courses, educational content, and hands-on workshops that enable both dental labs, dentists, and orthodontists to begin or advance their digital dentistry knowledge and skills to benefit both their practice and their patients.”

Dental technicians who integrate 3D printing into their treatment plans can offer more personalized and cost-effective treatment in the form of custom dentures, implants, crowns, models, and more, and can also make their workflows more efficient as well. It seems like this is a well-known fact, as Formlabs says its users have 3D printed more than 25 million dental parts. But, the company’s Formlabs Dental Unit found that there was a gap in the dental field in terms of education about the technology, which is slowing adoption. Formlabs Dental is working with dental leaders to offer accessible 3D printing solutions, and created the Dental Academy to help solve this skills gap.

Formlabs is collaborating with industry leaders and educational institutions to come up with its dental 3D printing curriculum, which supports undergraduate, postgraduate, and MSc education. Formlabs Dental Academy partners include private centers and universities, such as SWECADD, the London Dental Institute, and Capacitación Pérez Giugovaz. The company is also working with a number of key opinion leaders, or KOLs, from the global dental community, who use Formlabs products and services and are helping to shape Formlabs Dental Academy.

“From clinicians to technicians, researchers to orthodontists, Formlabs Dental KOLs are skilled professionals with expertise in the digital dentistry field and 3D printing. They share their knowledge and expertise with the 3D printing community by leading webinars, writing clinical case studies, testing pre-release products, conducting educational courses, and sharing their knowledge with the dental community at large,” the website explains.

Formlabs Dental Academy is a free resource for dental professionals to continue developing and growing their 3D printing skills, which will hopefully lead to more adoption in the industry. The platform offers educational content and comprehensive training on the many benefits of 3D printing, including customization, as well as dental materials and applications. Users can choose from a variety of courses that focus on various subject matter and learn to improve their performance and print results and deliver the best clinical outcomes for patients.

Right now, the curriculum will focus on SLA 3D printing, and focus areas will include an introduction to SLA, its use in restorative dental and orthodontic applications, technology basics and training, materials, the benefits of digital dentistry, 3D printing implementation strategies for the dental lab and clinic, and more; however, Formlabs Dental Academy will add more content as it becomes available. Initially, courses will be available in English, Spanish, German, and Swedish, with both online and in-person options at private educational centers and the company’s Boston, Berlin, and Budapest offices.