Scan. Design. Manufacture. is Coming to Melbourne This November
There is a big difference between watching a digital workflow and actually doing it yourself.
That has always been the idea behind Scan. Design. Manufacture. Rather than spending a day sitting through presentations about what digital dentistry can do, the course is built around getting your hands on the equipment, working through the software and manufacturing restorations yourself.
This November, we’re bringing the course to Melbourne November 21 at the Stamford Plaza.
Digital dentistry makes more sense when you make something
There is no shortage of information about intraoral scanning, CAD software, 3D printing and milling. You can watch hundreds of videos showing perfect scans, automated designs and restorations appearing from machines.
The difficult part is connecting all of those individual steps into a workflow that actually works in a dental practice.
Where should you spend time improving a scan?
What information does the design software actually need?
When should you print something, and when should you mill it?
How do you orient, process and finish a printed restoration properly?
What changes when you move from resin to glass ceramic or zirconia?
And what happens when something doesn't come out the way you expected?
Those are much easier questions to answer when you have the scanner, software, printer, mill and restoration sitting in front of you.
This is an all hands-on course
The Melbourne course will follow the same format we have been developing for Scan. Design. Manufacture. a practical day moving through the complete digital workflow.
We’ll scan with Aoralscan, design restorations using UPCAD, then manufacture using SHINING 3D printers and UP3D mills.
During the day, participants will work through a range of different applications, including:
Designing and manufacturing a crown.
Designing and manufacturing a veneer.
Designing and printing a splint.
Staining and finishing a printed AOX case.
Staining and finishing printed, lithium disilicate and zirconia restorations.
Working through practical finishing, processing and post-processing techniques.
Troubleshooting common scanning, design and manufacturing problems.
The course carries 10 CPD credits, but the aim is not simply to collect another 10 hours.
I want people to leave understanding how the individual parts of a digital workflow influence everything that comes afterwards.
Scan quality affects everything downstream
One of the biggest lessons in digital dentistry is that manufacturing problems often begin much earlier than the printer or mill.
A poor scan becomes a poor dataset.
A poor dataset makes design more difficult.
A compromised design creates manufacturing problems.
And by the time the restoration doesn't fit, it is very easy to blame the last machine in the workflow.
Throughout the course, we work backwards and forwards through that chain.
Scanning isn't simply about getting an image of every tooth. We look at useful scan strategy, controlling the clinical environment and collecting the information required by the software without unnecessarily creating enormous datasets.
From there, we move into design and look at what the software is actually doing rather than treating the automated result as a black box.
Then we manufacture it
Designing a restoration on a screen is only half the job.
Manufacturing introduces another set of variables: material selection, orientation, support strategy, nesting, tooling, post-processing, sintering, crystallisation, staining, glazing and polishing.
This is where having multiple technologies in the room becomes particularly useful.
Participants can see that 3D printing and milling are complementary technologies, rather than competing ways of doing the same thing.
Some applications make enormous sense to print. Others are better milled. Materials behave differently, workflows have different limitations, and the fastest method is not necessarily the best method for every restoration.
Understanding those differences is far more valuable than simply learning which button to press.
The small details matter
A lot of successful digital manufacturing comes down to relatively small details.
The cleanliness of an optical surface.
How a preparation is scanned.
Where a margin is placed.
How a restoration is supported.
Whether a mill has been calibrated.
How zirconia is sintered.
How a printed restoration is washed and post-cured.
How a material is finished.
Individually, none of these things is particularly complicated. Together, they determine whether an in-house workflow becomes predictable or frustrating.
That is why we deliberately manufacture several different restorations during the course rather than demonstrating one perfect case.
You need to see the whole process. More importantly, you need to do it.
Melbourne, we’re coming
The photo above is from one of our recent hands-on sessions. Laptops open, scanners running, designs on screens and machines manufacturing in the background.
That is exactly how I want these courses to feel. Not a lecture about digital dentistry. A room full of people actually doing digital dentistry.
Book your ticket for November 21 at the Stamford Plaza Melbourne CBD via Osseo Group HERE.
