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Surgical guide made three different ways: Costs and time

Thomas Monahan Marc Thomas
7 years ago

CG2, Milled first version, sent to Frankie at AA Dental Design for conversion and design. Printed with Moonray S and also with a  new in the market filament printer.

All three: Cerec scan,CBCT scan, design of implant placement. Lets say 1/2 hour assuming a simple case, adequate bone, etc.

CG2 Milled: 10 minutes design time, 55 minutes milling time. Allows for change to carbide burs and clean up of milling chamber. Cost $60 block.

CG2 DLP/SLA Printed in office: About a day turn around from InLab user, Frankie did rush this for me, so got it back in the afternoon, but realistically 24 hours on a routine basis, 47 minute print, 45 minutes post processing. Cost $20.00 lab fee, $4.00 in resin another $4 in alcohol, gauze, gloves, etc.

CG2 FDM ( Filament) Printed in office: Same time from Frankie, 50 minute print, 5 minutes post processing.Lab cost $20.00 material cost Less than $1.00.

Summary:

Milled took about an hour, cost me $60, minimal learning curve, and no additional equipment.

High quality print with other possible in office applications, took about 26 hours, cost $28, moderate learning curve, $4000 in new equipment

Acceptable quality print with no other real in office application, took about 25 hours, cost $21.00, moderate learning curve, $1500 in new equipment (FDM printer I used was about $180, but it is unproven and glitchy at the moment)

 

I did this comparison so that those of you thinking about this have some basis for decisions. As Skramy has mentioned in the past, there are some fiddly softwares that you need to learn to get here. You also need to add in additional equipment, or trade off wear and tear on your mill. Time is also a factor here if you are trying to knock out a same day implant. There are other workflows available which can reduce time and cost by eliminating the lab conversion, but I was trying to look at staying within the Sirona workflow. Another factor to consider is that there is excess capacity in labs and other sources to get guides printed or milled, typical cost $35-$100. Also to be considered is potential disruption or smoothing of workflow, failed prints are a PITA and a definite reality, but DIY can be efficient and fast when you start to consider higher volumes of models/ guides.

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