Dental Sleep Medicine Insider September 2017 | Page 28
ALEX BUDDEMEYER
Seamless Appliance Delivery
With DIGITAL Technology
“THE DIGITAL BLOCKOUT PROCESS”
“The appliance
doesn’t fit!”
We’ve all heard it before . . .
“my patient’s appliance is too
loose or too tight”. This can
sometimes be caused by dis-
torted impressions or working
models. That being said, usually
the culprit in this scenario is the
method used to block out the
undercuts on the working mod-
els. Most manufacturers still rely
on a manual process, using a lab
technician to “eye ball” the exact
amount of block out materi-
al required for proper path of
insertion and smooth delivery of
the appliance at chair side. This
older manufacturing method can
sometimes result in poor fitting
appliances, requiring time-con-
suming acrylic adjustments or
the necessity to return the sleep
appliance back to the manufac-
turer. This can be frustrating for
both the patient and dentist (and
admittedly, for the lab).
DynaFlex, a United States regis-
tered manufacturing facility has
recently introduced advance-
ments in digital technology that
eliminates the old “eye balling”
manual process of blocking out
for undercuts during the fabrica-
tion process.
This year, DynaFlex started pro-
viding our clients with digital
blockout for appliance fabrica-
tion. This means the manual
guesswork of undercut relief
by the lab technician has been
removed from the manufactur-
ing process. The precision of the
digital blockout technology pro-
vides you with a more consistent
appliance fit every time. Based
on the different materials, Dyna-
Flex sets the software to a spe-
cific tolerance level that works
best for retention and delivery
of each appliance. Depending
on preferences, the dentist can
now customize this tolerance
level to the exact retention
amount (more or less) that they
prefer with the type of appliance
and the type of material (acryl-
ic, comfort fit or Accu-fit). The
new digital block out process
provides a consistent delivery
schedule, saving both chair-time
and improving the patient work-
flow in your practice.
The new digital blockout tech-
nology is only one of the digital
advancements that DynaFlex has
implemented into the custom
manufacturing of your sleep
devices. DynaFlex can also help
you make the most of your digi-
tal technology. We accept all .stl
files making the entire process
easy and accurate from your
intraoral scan to final appliance
delivery. In addition, your pa-
tient’s working models and bite
registration are digitally stored
forever and a day. Digital stor-
age makes it easy to replace a
lost or pet-destroyed appliance.
Digital storage makes appli-
ance replacement as simple as a
phone call or email to DynaFlex.
ALEX BUDDEMEYER, CDT
If you have additional ques-
tions about digital technol-
ogy and dental sleep appli-
ances please contact me at
[email protected].