From Early Adopter to 3D Expert: 20 Years of Digital Dentistry at Dental-Technik Hamm

Dental laboratory workflows have changed a lot in the last thirty years, but Volker Hamm’s full-service lab, Dental-Technik Hamm, has not only stayed ahead of each new development, leveraged new techniques and processes to build a thriving business. By combining cutting-edge technology with a service-oriented mindset and a commitment to the highest level of standards, Hamm has grown his operation to nearly 20 dental technicians and a client base of nearly one hundred dental practices in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany.

We spoke with Volker Hamm and Max Greissner, to learn how the lab got started with digital dentistry and 3D printing workflows and, after years of research and testing, has found a workflow with Formlabs Dental that makes life easier for his lab and for his customers. 

Dental-Technik Hamm had been working with analog processes for a decade when Hamm decided it was time to look to the future. In 2004, he became an early adopter of digital technology, starting with a system called Etkon that allowed the lab to design in CAD and outsource the production of models, crowns, and bridges. Four years later, Hamm made another step forward and brought the workflow in-house with 3shape software and their own milling machine. The leap to 3D printing wasn’t far behind, and in 2016 Dental-Technik Hamm started intraoral scanning and 3D printing with a small digital light processing (DLP) resin printer. With each new step, Dental-Technik Hamm gained the trust of the doctors in their network and of their colleagues in the lab industry.

After a year of working with the DLP printer, Hamm and his colleagues started looking for something that could match their growing output, and began to research options for higher throughput that could enable a wide range of applications. Formlabs appealed to him because of the clear workflow, and accessible support. “Everything was there, everything could be seen, multilingual, with the store clearly laid out and all the explanatory videos,” Greissner remembers. 

Following extensive research, Hamm purchased his first Form 2 printer in 2017 and immediately started production. As any good innovator would do, Hamm has kept testing new products, always looking for the best tool. Several years ago, the lab ordered an industrial-grade printer for eight to ten times the price of the Form 2 to try out its specialized workflow for occlusal splint production, but eventually ended the contract after realizing the products weren’t meeting the clinicians’ expectations. Dental-Technik Hamm has returned time and time again to Formlabs Dental products for their ease of use, fast print speeds, reliability, and wide range of materials.

New products like the Build Platform 2 have made the Formlabs Dental workflow even easier for Hamm’s team. With such a high volume of requests coming in every day, the team needs an easy, fast solution for part removal and post-processing. The Build Platform 2’s Quick Release Technology cuts down on the time needed to spend removing prints from the platform and reduces the risk of damaging parts and having to start again. “We have the Build Platform 2 for all printers now. It is simply much more relaxed and faster to detach the prints. With the old platform, we had to loosen the models partly with a hammer and spatula, and in the process, models got broken. Or, we took too long and the residual material on the models hardened a bit and could not be washed off completely. So the Build Platform 2 is top!” Greissner told us. 

Hamm mentioned customer support as another strength of Formlabs Dental. Their network of customers include practices that have in-house labs that frequently need extensive support after installing a scanner and a 3D printer, especially in the beginning. Working with Formlabs support has helped Dental-Technik Hamm and their client network to go beyond just fulfilling orders — together they’ve optimized their operations, addressing any issues quickly and efficiently along the way. “That's another advantage that our customers really appreciate. It's not highly complicated, I have to say. It's all very simple,” Hamm said.

Upholding high standards of care requires Dental-Technik Hamm to be scrupulous about maintaining validated workflows for each different dental indication. Formlabs Dental makes it as easy as possible for dental labs and practices to access the documentation, guidelines, and workflows for each new application.  “If we need anything, e.g. declaration of conformity, everything is downloadable without any problem. So these specifications that we need as a certified company are not an issue at all with Formlabs. Everything is already incorporated and very good.” 

Today, Dental-Technik Hamm is leveraging six Formlabs Dental materials as part of their expanding offerings, with goals to continue expansion into new indications in the future. They offer: 

• Model Resin to create restorative models for fitment check of bridges, crowns and more.

• Dental LT Clear V2 Resin for occlusal splints, a growing request from their clients.

• Surgical Guide Resin for biocompatible surgical guides used to reduce operating time by more than 50%.

• Draft Resin for printing models used to fabricate thermoformed appliances.

• Custom Tray Resin for creating personalized trays used in restorative dentistry.

• Temporary CB Resin for provisional restorations (testing).

When dealing with the volume of requests that Dental-Technik Hamm receives on a daily basis, efficiency and responsiveness are of the highest priority — their clients rely on them to provide prompt, high quality service, every time. Before they integrated a fully digital workflow, they needed to physically visit each dental office to resolve issues with an appliance, pick up impressions, or speak with the clients. With digital scans, modeling, and a 3D printing workflow, the lab can save hours of time, and free up their technicians for high value tasks like design. As it becomes increasingly difficult to fully staff.

Another advantage of digitized processes is that some steps can be done without the patient being present there in person, which makes the workflow more simple and more comfortable for them. "Since the dentist's offices are often completely overloaded, they are happy with every appointment they can save. That's what digitization is for me, the main argument is time savings, better processes, but also, without care in scanning, it doesn't work either. Without care in printing, it doesn't work either. But I think every lab has to experience this for itself. That it's also up to us, the users", Volker Hamm said.

Not only thanks to the reduction of production time Dental-Technik Hamm can raise their profit in comparison to traditional production techniques, but also because of the affordable prices for Formlabs additive hardware and materials.

Dental-Technik Hamm has been fabricating occlusal splints for over a year after rigorous testing to ensure the material would be rugged enough for patients’ daily wear. “We first tested it in a practice that indicates a lot of occlusal splints and they are actually thrilled with it because the fit is very good. If we weren't satisfied with it, we would continue to mill, but we are switching more and more to printing”, Volker Hamm said.

Dental-Technik Hamm is an early adopter of latest technologies while putting emphasis on making well-considered decisions. With almost two decades of experience in digital technologies, their lab is well equipped with desktop scanners, milling machines and Formlabs SLA printers. They are currently moving forward to the next step of digital production by testing Fleet Control, one of the three elements of the Formlabs Dental Automation Ecosystem. Next, they are considering further automation tools such as adding the Form Auto to automate print part removal.  “Our goal is to design and print more and more digitally,” says Hamm. To learn more about digitizing your dental workflow, contact our specialists or explore the Form 3B+, our industry-leading dental 3D printer.