Carestream Dental has partnered with 3Dmouthguard to provide protective sports apparel fit for athletes. Together, the two companies have developed a process involving Carestream Dental’s digital intraoral scanner and 3Dmouthguard’s design and printing to automate, digitise and customise mouthguard design and manufacturing.
It all starts with a quick scan of the maxilla by one of Carestream Dental’s highly accurate intraoral scanners, which digitises the teeth and allows 3Dmouthguard’s software to virtually fit the mouthguard before printing it through a process called selective laser sintering.
“Whether it’s a restoration or a mouthguard, if it’s going into the mouth, it just has to fit,” said Mirjam Hermann, marketing director (EMEA), Carestream Dental. “Fortunately, study after study shows that digital intraoral scanners lead to more accurate results and better outcomes for patients and athletes alike.”
3Dmouthguard offers a production capacity of 150,000 mouthguards per year and is now ready to scale up its production. New technology like digital scanners, 3D printing and the right material makes 2021 the year the company plans to increase its capacity, with a goal of producing more than 5,000,000 mouthguards within three years.
“The constant feedback from our athletes is Carestream Dental’s digital intraoral scanners are comfortable and less intimidating the traditional moulding gel,” said Arno Hermans, chief executive officer of 3Dmouthguard. “We then take the digital workflow to the next level and turn a scan into a mouthguard in five seconds. As we explore the opportunities for intraoral scanning in the sports industry, we offer an extra service for dentists and orthodontists.”
