Implant Concierge, a web-based platform that synchronizes and simplifies the digital implant workflow by serving as a Virtual Treatment Plan Coordinator™, is optimizing dental production through the utilization of the Stratasys J5 DentaJet.
Bret Royal, Director of Guided Surgery, founded Implant Concierge in 2006, in San Antonio, Texas, as a start-up digital imaging center. While dentists appreciated the practice’s use of Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) technology, they weren’t referring many patient cases to Implant Concierge. Royal realized that to get more referrals for imaging, they needed to provide 3D treatment planning as a way to entice dentists to refer patients for CBCT imaging.
Implant Concierge began to create treatment plans using software for implant placements for virtual surgery. Within a few years, they had imaging centers throughout Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and New York, but lacked a streamlined process to manage their workflow, work cohesively across the company, and offer treatment planning services to customers in a cohesive manner.
In 2014, they developed what is now Implant Concierge, a website that serves as a virtual treatment plan coordinator and enables dental professionals to implement the known benefits of patient-specific guided surgical solutions.
“Our platform, experience, and passion for service took a fragmented process and made it available for a lot of dentists to integrate and utilize into their practice overnight,” Royal said. “It was created to provide a service and make guided surgery accessible and affordable for any dentist that wanted to utilize it without having to purchase and learn software.”
Today, in addition to treatment planning services, Implant Concierge provides surgical guide design and 3D printing of surgical guides. Over 6,000 dentists use Implant Concierge, and they ship surgical guides around the world. The center recently expanded their services into immediate dentures, and surgery-ready provisionals.
“We will take a case, virtually we will provide an immediate extraction, plan the final and ideal implant position based upon the virtual wax up and then design and 3D print a surgical guide,” Royal said. “At that point, the doctor can deliver the implant through the surgical guide precisely and efficiently and put a surgery-ready provisional or screw-retained crown into place. Within 20 minutes, there can be an extraction, implant placement, and delivery of the crown.”
To produce surgical guides for implant cases, Royal said that they need a 3D printer that is precise, accurate, and consistent. Additionally, with the volume of guide requests that Implant Concierge receives, they need a 3D printer with a large build plate.
“The doctor needs to trust the device to place the implant exactly as it was planned,” Royal said. “The patient’s tooth — their smile — depends on the accuracy of the 3D print. I want to be able to print 30 tooth borne guides or complex stackable guides, at the same time and know that each part is accurate every time.”
Implant Concierge has used Stratasys printers since 2014 to produce surgical guides. Today, the center uses multiple Stratasys J5 DentaJet printers, which allows them to print up to 40 different dental part units on one build plate in the same print job.
“With the J5 DentaJet, I have everything printed at one time, and I can put it through my quality control process so we can ensure great quality and a great product every time,” Royal said.
According to Royal, Implant Concierge’s implementation and use of the J5 DentaJet has been seamless — from the delivery and training on the printer, to the short maintenance time and streamlined quality control process.
“I can print 35-40 different appliances simultaneously, with up to 5 different materials, and know that each one is going to be perfect in the morning when we come back into the office,” Royal said. “Having 40 different jobs finished simultaneously and knowing that they are all precise is a huge advantage.”
Stratasys J5 DentaJet: Load one tray and walk away. The J5 DentaJet is our versatile, powerful dental 3D printer for medium to large dental labs. Learn how to leverage the J5 DentaJet to print consistently accurate parts while maximizing efficiency, and producing more dental parts with less handling.
