Information on the form 2 from formlabs in the dental industry

General Discussion
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Yes hi my name is Hary, i wanted to know if I am to get the form 2 of formlabs printers… How precise are they and what are good third party resins I can use for this device. I’ve been looking for these machines for a while now but this one caught my attention with it’s platform size. So pls if possible to answer me in any way possible. All answers will be appreciated. Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

1 Like
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Also forgot to mention I am looking for dental use. So the more precise the better. Also if anyone has done some dental work with it, I would appreciate your feedbacks on it and what It has helped you make.

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Hi Hary,

welcome to the Formlabs community! You are in good hands…there are many dentists here who have used the Form 2 for dental purposes with great success. I cannot comment directly as I am not in that field. Formlabs of course has their own dental resin, which I would suggest to check out. As far as 3rd party resins, I have see people using http://nextdent.com/

Be sure to search the forums as there have been many many posts on this subject. I’ll let the real professionals post with regards to accuracy.

  • Kevin
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Hary,

I am just beginning my journey with the Form2 in my dental career. A couple points that might help you decide on what to do:

  1. To get the absolute best quality, detail, and dimensional accuracy, my opinion is that you would want to use only the FormLabs branded resins, in particular, the newest matte grey (V3).

  2. As far as using this machine for dentistry, it depends on what you are wanting to do. Again, my opinion would be that the resolution created with the Form2 is only good enough to fabricate removable appliances (ie. Nightguards, bleach trays, any type of suck down really, possibly partial denture, but I would not feel comfortable using the Form2 for permanent crown and bridge quite yet. Granted, I have not printed out any crowns and tried them in, but I don’t think the resolution is at the standard of care yet. For removable stuff, maybe. I did scan in a stone model with the Einscan-S, and then printed it out in grey with FormLabs resin, and then created a suck down. I tried that suck down on the original model and it fit great.

  3. 3rd Party resin usage is not easy. At this point, it takes a lot of trial and error and time --> money. FormLabs does have an open mode, but you cannot directly change the laser power or heat settings, so it makes it hard to figure out which preset setting to use with 3rd party resins. My lnitial limited experience has been not that great. Maybe ok for toys or other items, but certainly not for perfect fit dental use (strictly regarding 3rd party resin, not the Form2 itself).

As a final thought, I have bought a Form2 for the sole purpose of using it for dentistry, and I have no regrets so far. I am fairly computer literate, and I am a younger/newer dentist, so I don’t mind spending the time to experiment. But if you are looking for a plug and play unit, strictly for printing crown and bridge or implant related items, I would recommend against the Form2. If you are looking to print removable items, or surgical guides, or custom trays then it should work just fine.

I hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions!

-Kevin Yoder, DDS

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Thank you Kevinduhe and Yoderkl for the information much appreciated, my interest for a printer it’s mainly for crown and bridge … I know that form 2 is not accurate enough for that purpose,
But when I saw this on Facebook ( Formlab2 Sicilia DentalStudy) https://www.facebook.com/groups/319796591698370/
I was amazed…