2024 was a groundbreaking year at Formlabs Dental. This year brought the release of our blazing fast masked stereolithography (MSLA) Form 4B Series 3D printers, the opening of our ecosystem, new materials, and much more. From new products that make your workflows faster and easier than ever, to celebrating our users’ unique stories, we’re closing out the year with just a few of our (and your) highlights from 2024.
Models in Minutes: The Future of Digital Dentistry
Form 4B: Blazing Speed Meets Unmatched Accuracy
In April, we announced our Form 4B masked stereolithography (MSLA) 3D printer. Delivering 4x the speed and 30% more build volume than Form 3B+, Form 4B redefines the industry standard for speed, accuracy, reliability, and material versatility, delivering 11 dental models in nine minutes.
“We have a printer that is super fast, it has great resin options for every single indication in dentistry, and it comes at an affordable cost.”
Dr. Ahmad Al-Hassiny, DMD, Institute of Digital Dentistry (IDD)
Form 4BL: A New Era of Dental Manufacturing
In October, we released Form 4BL, the fastest large-format dental SLA printer for printing dental models and biocompatible parts. Form 4BL offers the blazing speed, accuracy, reliability, and ease of use of Form 4B with a 2.7x larger build surface than Form 4B, unlocking the ability to print more than 120 orthodontic models per hour.
“We’re able to get two, high-throughput prints completed in a day, with only two post-processing periods as opposed to four. This frees me up to do other tasks that need to be done in my lab, so I have much more availability.”
Rich Heilweil, Rapid Prototyping Team Lead, Aurora DTC
Talk to Our Dental Sales Team
Whether you need to produce occlusal splints in-house, or are looking for high-throughput production of dental models, we're here to help. The Formlabs Dental Team are dedicated specialists who know exactly how to support you and your company's needs.
Materials Matter
New materials were added to the Dental Material Library, empowering users to print even more applications. These include:
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BEGO™ VarseoSmile® TriniQ® Resin for the printing of permanent single-units, implant crowns (Ti-bases), and permanent bridges up to three units, enabling the production of durable and aesthetic same-day restorative parts. Learn more about this resin here.
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Premium Teeth Resin was cleared in the USA, EU, UK, Switzerland, and Canada for printing three applications including natural-looking teeth for digital dentures, temporary full-arch implant-supported restorations (All-on-X appliances), and temporary single-unit restorations including crowns, inlays, onlays, veneers, and up to seven-unit bridges. Formlabs’ first in-house developed tooth-colored formulation is a nano-ceramic-filled biocompatible material with enhanced aesthetics, superior intraoral mechanical properties, and validated longevity to guarantee optimal clinical performance. Learn more here.
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Our in-house materials experts took advantage of the release of Form 4B to co-develop industry-leading materials, including Fast Model Resin. Fast Model Resin is optimized for speed, but without sacrificing accuracy and resolution, so you can print 11 models for thermoforming in nine minutes. Learn more here.
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Precision Model Resin empowers dental professionals to 3D print restorative models with over 99% of printed surface area within 100 μm of the digital model, for industry-leading accuracy and precision. Learn more here.
Create natural-looking teeth resistant to wear, staining, and abrasion with Premium Teeth Resin.
In addition to these new resins, Formlabs is now open with the release of Open Material Mode, which unlocks the ability to use any 405 nm photopolymer resin on Form Series 3D printers, empowering expert users and researchers to print with any material on the market as well as custom resins. (Note that with Open Material Mode, users are responsible for validating their own biocompatibility.)
This year also brought Resin Pumping System, which can deliver 5 L of resin through a pumping system directly to the printer’s resin tank for improved efficiency. This means less frequent cartridge changes, and the ability to unlock bulk pricing on Formlabs SLA resins.
Fast, easy material changeovers on Form 4B Series printers empower the addition of applications. Explore the comprehensive dental material library to learn more or request a sample part to evaluate the quality for yourself.
Top Stories From Dental Professionals
Ultimate Debonding: How Form 4B Eliminates Appointments at Alvetro Orthodontics
Dr. Lisa Alvetro, DDS, is the sole orthodontist at Alvetro Orthodontics, supported by a staff of 22 employees and seeing 125 patients on an average day. Dr. Alvetro produces all appliances in-house, relying on Formlabs 3D printers and the versatile Formlabs Dental material library for the production of indirect bonding trays, occlusal guards, and models for thermoforming retainers and aligners.
The cutting-edge technology of Form 4B has had an immediate impact on Alvetro Orthodontics, enabling the elimination of appointments and a decrease of 6-8 weeks in treatment time for patients with braces.
Transforming Workflows at Kreimer Dentallabor With Form 4B and Form 4BL
Stephan Kreimer is a Master Dental Technician and director of Kreimer Dentallabor GmbH & Co. KG, a full-service dental lab specializing in digital workflows. More than 80% of their cases are received digitally and worked on by a team of 12 dental technicians in a space designed around the efficiency of digital workflows.
Kreimer's lab is hugely productive — the team 3D prints an average of 300 dental models each month, about 60% of which are highly precise restorative models, as well as biocompatible appliances.
Read the story to learn how Kreimer Dentallabor has eliminated patient appointments for the dentists they work with by printing with Precision Model Resin on Form 4BL.
Same-Visit Dentistry at Baer Dental With Form 4B
As a dentist running a general practice, speed is of the essence as reduced chair time means reduced costs and improved patient comfort. Dr. Christopher Baer, DMD, of Baer Dental, a general dental practice in Lone Tree, Colorado, leverages the power of Form 4B for same-visit dentistry.
Dr. Baer uses Form 4B to print appliances for multiple applications, easily swapping out resin cartridges and resin tanks to print different materials. Applications include making models for retainers, custom whitening trays, wax-ups, temporary and permanent restorations, surgical guides, and occlusal splints.
“We can actually do same-visit printing, where we can go from a scan to a printed model and fabricate an appliance very easily within 10 minutes so we have it before a patient leaves.”
Dr. Christopher Baer, DMD, Baer Dental
Digital Prosthodontics With 3D Printing: How Dr. Cacioppo Builds a Reliable 3D Printing Environment
“You can be the best digital dentist in the world, but when you put your gloves on you need to be fast and you need technology that is easy. You don't need tons of parameters, you need the perfect ones for each resin, each application. And you need to know that you can trust your technology. Today I can say that I trust 100 percent Formlabs 3D printers. It's not the same with other 3D printers.”
Dr. Antonino Cacioppo, DDS, PhD, Prosthodontist
Dr. Cacioppo found that the precision of Surgical Guide Resin printed on Form 4B means sleeves fit perfectly on the first try.
Dr. Antonino Cacioppo is a digital dentistry expert who’s been 3D printing for almost a decade, and practicing digital dentistry since 2005. A dentist, private practitioner, and prosthodontist in Palermo, Italy, Dr. Cacioppo started out with a Form 2 3D printer, and currently uses 23 3D printers from different manufacturers. Read the story to learn how Dr. Cacioppo stays at the cutting edge of digital prosthodontics.
Make Dentistry Easier in 2025
Formlabs Dental seeks to make dentistry easier for dentists, orthodontists, and labs. Whether you’re looking to start your 3D printing journey in 2025, or add materials, applications, and throughput to your 3D print lab, we’re here to support you in maximizing performance and versatility with easy workflows, intuitive technology, and extensive resources.
Request a sample part to evaluate our materials firsthand, or talk to our Dental Sales team for more information.