Orthodontic practices that produce in-house aligners may find that as volume grows, the trimming aspect of the process becomes a challenge. For AAO members considering the purchase of an aligner trimmer, these products are now included in the Robotics section of AAO TechSelect.
Dr. Jared Gianquinto was an early adopter of in-house aligner and retainer production technologies.
“By 2016, we had a large aligner patient base and were interested in 3D printing options for making models in-house,” says Dr. Gianquinto, who opened his practice in Bakersfield, California 13 years ago. “Producing our own models had a positive impact on our profitability within a year.”
As the practice’s volume of aligner patients continued to grow and all patients received aligner trays for retention as they completed treatment, the production process was handled efficiently by the practice’s full-time lab tech. Then, the lab tech was scheduled for a mid-2023 maternity leave.
“As we planned how her responsibilities would be divided up among the team, the finishing step of getting the aligners trimmed was the biggest challenge,” says Dr. Gianquinto. “I started looking at automated trimming solutions but did not feel the options were great. Then I found Voxel’s VFH E3 trimmer. I liked that it was open-source and so could be used with any type of aligner platform. There were no ongoing subscription costs.”
Bringing the trimmer into the production process went smoothly. Dr. Gianquinto and his team were happy with its performance.
“There are a couple of caveats,” says Dr. Gianquinto. “One is that it is still necessary to polish the trays after they are produced, but that has not been a problem for our team.
“Also, the software that creates the trimline is getting better, but is still a bit slow and takes a few minutes to create each trimline,” he adds. “When we are producing more than two trays for a patient in clear aligner treatment, that works fine but it is not time-efficient for retainer production, so we do not use the trimmer for retainers.”
Learn More about Aligner Trimmers on AAO TechSelect
Aligner trimmers are part of the Robotics section of AAO TechSelect, which offers objective information for some of the most complex aspects of implementing new technology in a practice – including product features, with all products listed offering discounts for AAO members. In addition to the VFH E3, TechSelect also includes the Laser Aligner Cutter (LAC) from Dental Axess.
“Overall, we have been happy with no downtime on our trimmer and great support from Voxel when we needed it,” says Dr. Gianquinto.
