Kris Verhaegen is a dental technician and owner of Creative Dental Art, a dental lab based in Antwerp, Belgium. Started in 2007, Creative Dental Art produces crowns, bridges and implant structures daily to deliver to dentists and orthodontic practices. His work is extremely precise — aiming to deliver close-to-perfect dental replicas through carefully selected materials and expert finishing techniques.
Using 3D Systems’ digital dentistry solutions, Verhaegen and team were able to meet Creative Dental Art’s exacting standards while also streamlining efficiency. The resulting time savings are significant: digital impressions and models designed, printed and finished in under an hour, compared with a traditional standard that requires an office visit alongside approximately two hours of work.
Courtesy of Creative Dental Art
The Challenge
Finding the right platform for a more efficient digital workflow
Verhaegen became overwhelmed in his attempts to maintain extreme quality as the volume of his work grew. Over the years, the job of a dental technician has evolved from a near-artisanal practice to embrace a fast-paced and industrialized workflow. He knew that a digital-first workflow could make Creative Dental Art more efficient, but the new platforms they tried were all too slow, too difficult to use or didn’t provide good enough quality.
“I needed to work digitally because there’s so much work to be done and it makes the job much more efficient,” Verhaegen explained. “But the solutions I experimented with didn’t give the best results.”
The Solution
NextDent 5100 unlocks new levels of productivity — while upholding a high standard of quality
Courtesy of Creative Dental Art
In 2018, after going through a series of frustrations trying to choose a 3D printing platform, Creative Dental Art heard about 3D Systems and the NextDent 5100. The relief was instantaneous, and Kris was quickly able to triple his model production speed. “Right out of the box,” Verhaegen said, “it gave great results.”
Not only was the printer easy to use, but Verhaegen also appreciated the flexibility of the 3D Sprint software — which allowed him to easily create the models he wanted. The NextDent 5100 can be used with 3d Systems’ portfolio of over 30 unique materials — the largest number available from any material supplier. Verhaegen also loved that 3D Systems continues to innovate with its materials, even for a printer released in 2018.
To learn more about the 3D printer’s capabilities, the Creative Dental Art team received training from a 3D Systems representative and joined supportive communities on various Facebook groups.
After experimenting with different calibration tools and prosthodontic settings, the team achieved a hyper-efficient digital workflow — improving the surface quality of its model prints while reducing the amount of finishing work it takes to complete them.
Even six years after buying the NextDent 5100, Creative Dental Art is still completely satisfied with the purchase, highlighting the continued support 3D Systems provides.
“Even after six years, it still gives us perfect results,” he added. “It’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought for my job.”
Aside from efficiency and quality, another serious advantage of the NextDent 5100 is its ease of use. To illustrate its user-friendliness, Verhaegen noted that he was able to help an unspecialized dentist’s assistant use the printer to produce a dental model with only a short how-to video.
