Dental CADCAM technology wins Queen's Award

Delcam's involvement in the dental area began several years ago when companies in the industry started to use the company's PowerMILL CAM system for the machining of restorations. The software gave immediate benefits, both in the time in which machining data could be generated, and in the speed and quality of the machining operations. However, the company discovered that it was difficult for dental technicians with no previous experience in CADCAM to use the system. Delcam then developed DentMILL, an automated knowledge-based programne specifically designed to generate toolpaths to machine restorations. Following early success with DentMILL, Delcam began the introduction of the partner design program, DentCAD. The aim was to provide software that would be easy for dental technicians to use, regardless of their previous knowledge of computer-aided design. To achieve this, the whole process is based on a series of intuitive 'Wizards' that use dental imagery and terminology to guide the user through the entire design process. A range of visualisation tools is available at every stage, which allows detailed inspection of the shape being developed. These are designed to ensure that the finished restoration fits accurately and comfortably in the patient's mouth. According to Delcam, high quality restorations can now be produced within hours that would previously have taken days, thereby giving a much faster service to patients.