With r3Dent, we enable veterinarians to create a digital replica of the extracted tooth and 3D print it from a plant-based material as a dental implant. The 3D printed dental implant is inserted and held in place by tilting the adjacent teeth. In cooperation with Dr. Tim Steinberg from the veterinary clinic in Lüsche, it was noticed that the insertion required more effort in some patients and the question arose whether there were deviations in the dimensions of the 3D printed dental implant compared to the original, or whether the tilting of the neighboring teeth already sets in after a short time and the tooth space is already reduced as a result.

So we tested the whole process from 3D scanning to 3D printing again and compared the result with the original. First, a 3D model was created using our 3D scanning app r3DPhoto. This could then be easily uploaded to our post-processing program r3Dent.app using the export function of the app. There you can log in with the same account, and retrieve the uploaded 3D model from the app.

The tooth was measured using the reference line and scaled to the original size. After that, the tooth was shortened, just as it is done in practice. Then the 3D print file could be downloaded and prepared for 3D printing. The 3D printing process was started and almost 3.5 hours later we had a result.

Visually, we could not tell any difference. The implant looked exactly like the original down to the smallest details. This speaks for the quality of our 3D scan app: r3DPhoto. Now, however, we wanted to measure and compare the dimensions more precisely. We were able to determine the following:

Due to the surface, which is not even, there are minimal measurement errors, these are negligible, but the dimensions are approximately the same. The differences are in the range of 0.2-0.5mm. This result is absolutely satisfactory for us and is not decisive for the narrowed tooth cavity. With this test, we were able to show that 3D printed dental implants with millimeter accuracy are possible with r3Dent, which are almost identical to the original and fit perfectly into the tooth cavity. However, if the tooth is too large for the tooth cavity, small parts can be corrected in advance with our post-processing program or ground down directly before insertion with a conventional grinder.