Dental Product Shopper Interviews Colin Raney from Formlabs
At the 2015 Yankee Dental Congress, Dental Product Shopper came across a company called Formlabs
Formlabs started out of MIT in 2011 and was launched through Kickstarter in 2013 after raising nearly 3 million dollars after publicly announcing the first product, Form 1 3D. The Somerville, Massachusetts-based company develops and manufactures 3D printers and related software consumables. They now sell 3D printers around the globe. Formlabs is staffed from Boston and Berlin with a team that can assist in English, German, French and Italian. Each and every Formlabs printer ships with a one year warranty. Formlabs aims for fast replies and fast resolutions, responding to queries within hours, not days.
We sat down with Marketing Lead Colin Raney to get the lowdown on their 3D printer and to find out how dentists can use it for patient education:
Q: Tell us about your product.
A: It's a desktop stereolithography printer. It uses light-sensitive resin and a laser to print objects in high-detail. It can print in traditional plastics, as well as parts for investment casting and flexible materials.
Q: Why are you exhibiting at Yankee?
A: We've had a lot of dentists who have been using our printer and they love the level of detail and the price. We're here to learn more about dentists’ needs and understand the marketplace.
Q: How does it differ from other 3D printers on the dental market?
A: We've designed a device that's extremely easy to use. Dentists can load their model and print in about 10 minutes. Other printers are much more expensive and complicated. Dentists often have to hire a special tech just to operate the machine.
Q: What have been some of the objections from dentists? Have you received any kind of pushback?
A: Right now our resins aren't approved for patient contact. They're ideal for quickly and affordably printing high-resolution models, molds, or pieces that will be cast in other materials.
Q: Describe the patient education use/aspect for the printer.
A: We have many dentists printing out models to explain procedures for the patient, which, as you can see, have such incredible detail that it can be of great benefit for a patient to see.
Q: How long does it take to print a tooth, quadrant, arch? How does that compare to production times for other methods?
A: Depending on the resolution, you could print a full mouth impression in around 3 hours. Teeth and other parts would print much faster.
Click here to visit Formlabs' website and find the latest 3D printing news, interviews with experts from around the world, and tutorials on how to leverage 3D printing.