Finally, a Strong and Flexible Printed Night Guard
Inside Dental Technology delivers updates on digital workflows, materials, lab techniques, and innovation in dental technology through expert articles and videos.
August 1, 2020
Volume 11, Issue 7, August 2020
Page(s): p. 6
The transition from analog to digital processes has posed different challenges for various applications in dentistry. For night guards and bite splints, the primary challenge has been replicating the thermoplastic properties of analog materials, according to Mark Samuel Chan, DD, a denturist and laboratory technician at McCabe Denture & Implant Solutions in Cambridge, Ontario.
"My clients and I were very accustomed to providing the thermoplastic-type night guards with analog fabrication processes," Chan says.
Night guards are an important part of Chan's business, as he not only provides them as a laboratory service for dentists, but also treats his own patients as a denturist.
"I fabricate night guards for my fixed prosthetics-my all-on-X restorations-to protect long-term function beyond the occlusion," Chan says. "I also do it for a lot of my removable prosthetics, because not all patients remove their dentures at night, and a night guard can add longevity to the prosthetic."
A transition to 3D printing made sense not only for efficiency purposes but also for practicality. Chan says finding skilled analog technicians has been increasingly difficult as dental technology schools in the US and Canada dwindle.
"Especially for our younger employees, the digital method is much easier for them to understand and for us to train," he says.
Still, the material limitations posed a problem-until Chan began using KeySplint Soft from Keystone Industries.
"Our benchmark is the tried-and-true analog night guard, and KeySplint Soft has lived up to that benchmark," Chan says. "It is now my go-to digital material."
KeySplint Soft is fully biocompatible and combines the strength needed to protect teeth against disorders such as bruxism with added flexibility for better patient comfort, whereas other printed materials can be brittle. It is open source, transparent, polishable, and stain resistant.
"It is really one of the only printable materials with those thermoplastic-type qualities," Chan says. "Additionally, polishability is very important, because if a night guard is not polishable, then it is not stain resistant. Patients do not always clean their night guards, and if it is not polishable then it will not be easy to clean."
The digital process and the seamless validation of KeySplint Soft on his Asiga 3D printer allows Chan to go model-less for both himself and his digital clients.
"It is much more streamlined," he says. "I do not need to pour alginate, and I can work either at the laboratory or from my couch at home."
The efficiency and cost savings created by using KeySplint Soft help Chan achieve his ROI on his 3D printer.
"I am not only achieving my own ROI," he says, "but I am also able to pass some of the savings on to my clients to help them get their ROI for their intraoral scanners."
KeySplint Soft is validated for several 3D printers, so Chan recommends that laboratories and denture clinics alike try it if they have not already.
"KeySplint Soft hits all the checkmarks for me as a clinician and a technician," Chan says.
