For Glidewell Dental, producing tens of thousands of patient-specific devices such as such as crowns, bridges or dentures each week requires intensive engineering efforts. Glidewell’s investments in automation and cloud-connected systems, particularly in its factory for BruxZir Zirconia restorations, allows the company to maintain its industry-leading market share.
Flexible automation provides a decisive advantage in an industry that still relies heavily on skilled artisans using time-consuming manual processes: Dentists either mail impressions of a patient’s oral anatomy to Glidewell or scan and upload 3D digital impression images to the company’s proprietary MRP digital platform, CloudPoint, built on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. A proprietary AI technology then generates a custom prosthetic design to match the impression and turns the CAD file of each patient-specific restoration into a unique project.
See the rest of the article, “Sinking Their Teeth Into Automation,” on MachineDesign.com, a property of Endeavor Business Media, DentistryIQ’s parent company.
