DENTAL BUSINESS AND PROSPECT OF 3D PRINTING IN DENTISTRY

Dentistry is a noble profession or probably was, now it’s a Business. Thousands of Dentists pass out every year from colleges to cater to the population of over 2 Billion people of Developing Countries like India.

As soon as they are out, reality strikes them hard and they are faced with following questions – • How to open my clinic? • Where should I open my clinic? • How much area should my clinic be in? Questions which are answered by Professors, seniors and peers who themselves did the same thing when they started out but in reality very few know how Dental Business is actually done.

Doing Dental Business in Developing countries is increasingly becoming difficult due to immense competition resulting in Lowering of treatment charges and in turn Quality to some extent.

“First Impression is the last impression” the old adage still holds true today for Dental Business. Receptionists/Front Desk Officers are the face of the clinic. Doctors come secondary. Patients’ decision whether to go ahead with the treatment or not, is hugely influenced by the first impression they have about your clinic.

Dental Business is not about the money or how amazing a Doctor is anymore. It’s all about the Experience of patients, how you make them feel when they enter your clinic. Therefore, many dentists have started investing in Infrastructure of their clinics as well as in having trained team of staffs to provide an amazing experience for their patients. In near future, the situation of Dental Business in India will surely get better and better thus giving top class quality treatment to each and every patient. Thus, Dental Business in developing countries like India is set to prosper. In the present era when almost all industries are progressively moving towards digitalization, how can dental industry be left? 3D printing in dentistry has a huge potential in digitalizing and thus helping dental industry to flourish in coming times.

Prospect of 3D printing in dentistry: 3D printing has been hailed as a disruptive technology which will change manufacturing. Digital dentistry is knocking the door. It is just the matter of time when dental laboratories, orthodontists and dentists will be adopting 3D technologies in pursuit of the “rapid in-house development” using digital technologies such as 3D printing. This technology would help making dentistry more affordable, customized and convenient for patients. Procedure: Dentists may have a digital wand such as 3D scanner to scan your teeth and will provide a digital file. This digital file will be processed by a 3D software to customize the design as per the needs of a patient and will generate a final executable file which would be sent to the 3D printer for the artifacts such as crowns, bridges etc. Hence, within a very minute in the office or a dental lab, where your parts will be 3D printed by using the approved materials will be ready to directly fit in your mouth. Uses: Uses of 3D printing apart from making crowns and bridges, include the production of drill guides for dental implants, the production of physical models for prosthodontics, orthodontics and surgery, the manufacture of dental, craniomaxillofacial and orthopaedic implants, and the fabrication of copings and frameworks for implant and dental restorations. Advantage: The 3D printing innovation is cutting edge technology. The advantage of 3D printing is that the process is better able to custom manufacture an object with intricate details—think about a tooth’s irregular grooves and valleys. Challenges: Dentists in clinics or people working in dental labs are still not able to cope up with the technology and finding it hard to understand the modus operandi to make it working. Apart from the suspicion over its high price due to copyright challenges, the viability test is also still in question. Since, the prize in this race is the lucrative market for dental and medical prosthetics. The competition too is paving the way for 3D printing to finally become a standard tool for a range of health practitioners.

About Author:

Dr. Harshad Chaphekar has completed his B.D.S at the age of 24 years from Vasantdada Patil Dental College and Hospital, India. He has established his own firm which is about Dental Bussiness Consultancy and Clinic Set Up in India. He has also been an active team member of Your Health-Key for last 2 years where his contributions are immense.

sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

https://qz.com/367187/3d-printed-teeth/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/3d-printing-technology-transforming-dentistry_us_589cba50e4b0985224db5ea8

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