The Teeth

I have been busy today with someone's teeth.   I have no idea who the person is, but I've been working with their teeth, or rather a mold of their teeth.   My neighbor, who is also our dentist, sent me an email today and asked if I could do some different prints of some teeth he had to test if the type of 3D printers I have would work for his office. 

Typically, dentists use the type of printer my husband has, but they're messy and our neighbor doesn't like dealing with the resin.  The question is, can an FDM printer print with the same level of accuracy as the SLA printers for the needs he has?

It is possible, but there are challenges, getting the portions of the molds appropriately supported so they print accurately.   Any supports added add a level of cleanup and post-processing to get the model clean.  It's a tradeoff: lots of supports make the model very accurate, but the more supports added, the more post-processing needed.  And since the model needs to fit perfectly in the client's mouth, accuracy is important. 

Lots of models don't need any supports at all to print.   The issue is that the plastic is laid down layer after layer and with teeth, the geometry necessitates lots of supports.   So today I printed the set of teeth four times and have made progress on getting slicer settings that might meet the needs my neighbor has without without the mess of resin printing. 

Tonight I'm kicking another tooth print off and then heading to bed. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Wrestling Game Update:  I have no idea what the children are doing these days, but they're playing this wrestling game while my son plays "cool" music on the television.   The good news is, they're not fighting.   Sometimes there are injuries, but they're not intentional...usually.   It's another game called, "the game" and I'm glad above all else that they're playing together during this boring time when friends aren't around and aren't bored of each other or are fighting because they're bored.