Dental Materials

DENTCA Denture Base II for Carbon Printers

46min

Overview

DENTCA® Base II for Carbon printers is now available for Carbon M-Series printers to produce bases for dentures. When paired with DENTCA® Teeth, you can create complete denture appliances with DLS™.

This guide will cover preparation of your digital denture base models to properly prepare them for printing with DENTCA® Base II for Carbon printers resin.

DENTCA® Base II for Carbon printers currently comes in 4 colors:

  • DP (Dark Pink)
  • LP (Light Pink)
  • OP (Original Pink)
  • RP (Reddish Pink)
Dentca denture



Resource Links

Protocol



Dental Post-Processing Grids





General Orientation & Support Information





Patch and Fence tools




Review Supports in Printer UI course for more information.

Orientation Options

There are 2 options for orienting bases for printing.

Near Horizontal

  • No supports on cameo surface
  • Limits supports on intaglio edge
  • Minimizes support creation and support removal time
  • Minimizes print time
  • Fewer models per print

Near Vertical

  • No supports on intaglio surface
  • Requires more time creating and removing supports
  • Requires more finishing time to remove support nubs
  • Increase print time
  • More models per print
Near horizontal oriented denture

Near vertical oriented denture


Orient & Support Near Horizontal

Initial Orientation

Perform an initial orientation of both bases so that they are roughly parallel with the platform.

  1. Click on Orient or Shift + O in the main bar in the printer software.
  2. In the lower right corner, turn on Overhang Detection or V key set to 40 degrees to indicate areas that need support in red.
Printer UI showing Orient and Overhang Detection buttons


3. Orient each base so that the tissue-facing surface is facing the platform. 4. Adjust the bases so that the tooth sockets are mostly parallel with the platform.

Parallel orientation


5. Position the camera so you are looking straight down on the platfrom. Make sure that the posterior region of each base is facing the lower portion of the screen.

Top view of denture bases on platform


Final Orientation

Now perform the final orientations. Because denture bases are organic surfaces with no well defined flat areas, we do not recommend using Snap To Platform.

Maxillary Base

  1. Click on the maxillary base to select it.
  2. Enter 30 into the X axis field.
  3. The posterior of the base should be touching the platform.
Orientation of maxillary base


Mandibular Base

  1. Click on the mandibular base to select it.
  2. Enter -15 into the X axis field.
  3. The anterior of the base should be touching the platform.
Orientation of mandibular base


Supporting

  1. Click Support or Shift + S in the dark gray bar.
  2. Under Position, select Above Platform to lift parts off the platform.
  3. Skip Auto Support Method as this mode is not recommended.
  4. Click Manually Add to go to the Support editing interface.
Support screen in UI


Using either Auto Support method will result in supports covering a large portion of the tissue-facing surfaces, which will use more resin and require more cleanup.

Over-supported base


Add Fence Supports

Fence supports are required to support the edges of mandibular and maxillary bases.

  1. Click on Fences.
  2. Click a series of points in an area of overhang to define the fence.
    1. Use Overhang Detection to find areas that need support.
  3. Click ESC key and then hold down E key to reposition points.
  4. Click Generate to create the fence geometry. This may take a few minutes.
  5. Repeat as needed.
Fence screen in UI


Supporting Maxillary Base

Fence Supports

  1. Support entire boundary of base with fence supports.
    1. We recommend using a single, long fence for easier removal.
    2. A sequence of 2 or more short fences is acceptable.

Once the outer boundary of the maxillary base has been supported with fences, proceed to supporting the palette with bar supports.

Boundary supported by fences


Supporting Maxillary Base Palette

Support the palette with a field of bar supports to prevent deformation.

Bar Supports

  1. Press Overhang Detection to highlight the areas to focus on.
  2. Click on Multiple add.
  3. Click in the palette area to create field of points that will be contact points for bar supports.
    • Bar supports are usually required only in the palette area.
    • Place points within 3-6 mm of each other.
  4. Click Generate to create the bar supports.
  5. Check the bar supports and move to supporting the mandibular base.
Supporting palette with patch


Supporting Mandibular Base

Use fences to support the outer boundary of the base. Mandibular bases also require additional fences in the posterior areas to ensure proper fit.

  1. Support entire boundary of base with fence supports.
    • We recommend using a single, long fence for easier removal.
    • A sequence of 2 or more short fences is acceptable.
  2. Create secondary lines of fences along the posterior region.
  3. Offset from outer fence by 2-4 mm.
Mandibular fence placement


Examples of Properly Oriented and Supported Bases

  • Tissue-facing surfaces facing platform.
  • Supported Above Platform.
  • Fences around part boundary.
  • Bar supports on maxillary base palette.

Maxillary Base

Rotated 30 degrees with posterior tilted towards platform.

Well supported maxillary base


Mandibular Base

Rotated 15 degrees with anterior tilted towards platform.

Well supported mandibular base


Orient & Support Near Vertical

Orienting your denture base models vertically keeps the intaglio surface free of supports and allows more models to be fit on the build platform at the expense of increased printing time and additional time required to create supports and then remove them after printing.

Well supported near vertical base


Initial Orientation

Perform an initial orientation of both bases so that they are roughly parallel with the platform.

  1. Click on Orient or Shift + O in the main bar in the printer software.
  2. In the lower right corner, turn on Overhang Detection or V key set to 40 degrees to indicate areas that need support in red.
Printer UI showing Orient and Overhang Detection buttons


3. Orient each base so that the tissue-facing surface is facing the platform. 4. Adjust the bases so that the tooth sockets are mostly parallel with the platform.

Parallel orientation


5. Position the camera so you are looking straight down on the platfrom. Make sure that the posterior region of each base is facing the lower portion of the screen.

Top view of platform


Final Orientation

Now perform the final orientations. Because denture bases are organic surfaces with no well defined flat areas, we do not recommend using Snap To Platform. It is much easier to enter values directly into the Orient fields.

Maxillary and Mandibular Bases

  1. Click on the base model to select it.
  2. Enter -95 into the X axis field.
    • The labial surface of the bases should be facing the platform.
    • The lingual surfaces should be 5-10 degrees from vertical, tilted towards the platform.
Orientation of bases


Supporting

  1. Click Support or Shift + S in the dark gray bar.
  2. Under Position, select Above Platform to lift parts off the platform.
  3. Skip Auto Support Method as this mode is not recommended.
  4. Click Manually Add to go to the Support editing interface.
Support screen in UI


Using either Auto Support method will result in supports covering a large portion of the tissue-facing surfaces, which will use more resin and require more cleanup.

Poor supports generated by Auto Support feature


Support Papillas

Use bar supports to support papillas.

  1. Click on Bar support button.
  2. Click on each papilla to place a single support.
  3. Click Generate to create the bar supports.
  4. Repeat as needed.
Supporting papillas


Support Lingual Walls

  1. Click on Bar support button.
    1. Use Overhang Detection to find areas that need support.
  2. Click a series of points to support lingual walls.
  3. Click Generate to create the bar supports.
  4. Repeat as needed.
Supporting lingual walls


Support Labial Walls

Fences are ideal for supporting base walls that face the platform.

  • They are easy to remove.
  • Contact points require less finishing.
  1. Click on Fences.
    1. Use Overhang Detection to find areas that need support.
  2. Click a series of points to define the fence.
  3. Click ESC key and then hold down E key to reposition points.
  4. Click Generate to create the bar supports.
  5. Repeat as needed.
Supporting labial walls


Support Tooth Channels

  1. Click on Bar support button.
  2. Click a series of points to support the tooth channels of the few teeth that are closest to the platform.
  3. Click Generate to create the bar supports.
  4. Repeat as needed.
Supporting tooth channels


Examples of Properly Oriented and Supported Bases

  • Bases oriented vertically, tilted 5-10 degrees towards platform.
  • Papilla, lingual walls and tooth channels supported.
  • Support-free intaglio surface.
  • Labial wall supported with fence.
Properly supported bases


Nesting



Print Preparation

Print Controls

Click Print Controls or Shift + P in the top menu bar.

Print Controls in UI


Do not change any of the settings under Print Controls. The default settings deliver the best results for denture bases.

Slicing

Slice Thickness should stay at the Standard (100 µ) setting.

Slicing options


Reducing the slice thickness by choosing the Fine (50 µ) or Super-fine (25 µ) settings will increase print time and may reduce part quality and accuracy.

Project Analysis

  1. Select the Project Analysis tab.
  2. Click Start Analysis and wait for the processing to complete.
    1. Note the required resin volume and print time.
  3. Click Add to Queue.
Project Analysis in UI


Manufacturer Instructions for Use

Questions & Support

For questions about the resin properties, printing, washing or curing your parts, please contact the DENTCA support team: