As many of you regular readers know, when it comes to digital restorations, I’m a big fan of in-office milling. So that you can properly understand my perspective, let me give you some backstory…
In 2021 I began to look closely at the market for in-office mills. I had actually done in-office milling earlier in my career, but the hardware was very expensive and I wasn’t always happy with the results. However, our practice was growing, patients were getting busier, and technology was making incredible changes in the profession. Zirconia had changed aesthetic restorative treatment and I knew that labs were routinely milling zirconia. I thought “if labs are getting amazing results, I’ll bet we can do the same thing in our office.” With those thoughts in mind, I began exploring my options.
Because of my work in the industry I’ve made a lot of contacts and I began to reach out to them. When I brought up the word “milling”, I kept hearing the same name… Roland’s DGSHAPE. What I didn’t know at the time was that DGSHAPE has a very large footprint in the dental laboratory world. That intrigued me.
In the world of the dental lab, quality is everything. If a lab delivers a crown that doesn’t fit or isn’t aesthetic, the doctor will return it. That simple fact was one of the biggest reasons I decided to put a Roland’s DGSHAPE mill in my office. I knew that if the lab industry was getting well-fitting and aesthetic restorations with DGSHAPE mills, that was the company that I needed to partner with. I was also smitten with the fact that DGSHAPE mills are open architecture. That means they work with any intraoral scanner and any design software. As a doctor, I love options and knowing that if I ever changed scanners or design software, I could still use my current mill was a huge plus.
In April of 2022 we brought the DGSHAPE DWX-42W mill online into our office. We quickly discovered that having an in-office mill offered lots of benefits. The convenience of doing crowns in house was a huge benefit to our patients. We also got the control of creating exactly what we needed exactly as we wanted it. For the first few cases, we continued to send cases to the lab as well as creating our own restorations in the office. We then compared the two crowns on the model and discovered the fit and quality were identical. We also realized significant cost savings which made the ROI indisputable.
We discovered that the DWX-42W mill was a reliable workhorse. In fact, we were so impressed with it that this spring we added the new DWX-43W as a second unit.
The DWX-43W has some advantages over its predecessor.
- It comes with the new DGSHAPE CAM software that decreases milling times by up to 20% while still creating phenomenal restorations.
- Filterless technology. By doing away with the need for filters, we are saving money as well as time needed to perform maintenance. This feature can cut costs up to 20%.
- Easy Care. The unit has new automatic coolant jet operation and draining cycle features that can reduce routine mill maintenance by up to 50% compared to our other unit.
- Easy connectivity. Design files can be transferred via Ethernet or USB.
We continue to be impressed with both mills. They have definitely changed our office for the better. If you are looking to keep your costs low while still delivering amazing high quality prosthetics, be sure to check out Roland’s DGSHAPE mills. I’m confident you’ll be as impressed as we are.