DT News - MEA - Middle East’s First Metal 3D Printed Surgical Guide

Dental Tribune International

Tue. 28 November 2017

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Back in May 2017, we interviewed Julian Callanan, the Managing Director of Sinterex, and discussed how he and his business were applying metal 3D printing technology in dentistry. We caught up with him to find out his progress and the latest products.

DTMEA/CAPPmea: How have the last 6 months gone?
Julian Callanan: The last 6 months have absolutely flown by. As a young business, we are on a constant roller-coaster ride with highs and lows combined with lots of learning. The summer in particular was quite tough, I know many clinics and laboratories found market conditions to be more quiet than usual, but things seem to be moving again now. Overall, we keep adding new customers, and once they convert from the traditional manual techniques to digital production, then they do not go back.

Are you working on any new products or technologies?
Our primary product line remains PFM crowns and bridges. However, since we last met, we have introduced two new products: Removable Partial Dentures and Metal Surgical Guides. The RPDs which we produce are a great solution for a partially edentulous patient who is not a candidate clinically or financially for implants. We use a metallurgical process called Solution Annealing which brings flexibility into our metal and helps with the fit for the patient. The second product is a metal 3D printed Surgical Guide. This is a really exciting innovation in Surgical Guides and we recently collaborated on a trial surgery to test the product in the Middle East region for the first time.

International team of collaborators: Dr Ahmad Aljazairi, Dr Philippe De Moyer, Dr Islam Samy, Dr Khaled Al-Ekram and Julian Callanan

The metal 3D printed surgical guide which is sterilised before use

Who was involved and what did you do?
We worked with a broad team of dental experts. The design of the guide and the planning of the operation was led by 2INGIS, a Belgium based company who holds many patents in this area. The operation was led by Dr. Ahmad Aljazairi with support from Dr. Islam Samy and Dr. Khaled Al-Ekram. The role of Sinterex was to metal 3D print and then finish the guide.

What was the outcome?
The patient had two missing teeth and one broken tooth. During the operation the broken tooth was removed, and three implants immediately placed. We checked the results after the operation using a CBCT and the implant placement was perfect, more importantly, the patient was happy. The patient had needed the operation for a while but was avoiding as he was worried about the procedure. The patient works as a microelectronic technician and is very technically minded, when he heard that a surgical guide would be used, his confidence in the procedure increased.

What lies ahead for Sinterex?
We are focusing now on expanding our customer base and bringing our products to new markets. In parallel we are also looking at some really cool new 3D printing technologies which we feel could be beneficial to our existing customers.

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