MEPhI Laser Center post-graduate student Artur Andreev has worked out a new technology of laser milling for tooth construction manufacturing.

Stomatological prosthesis market develops actively every year. Traditioanl ways of ceramic samples manufacturing, in particular mechanical milling, appear to be ineffective to fulfill tasks. They show low efficiency, require substantial expenditure for tooling, manual labour and don’t provide enough flexibility in modeling and getting necessary tooth constructions. New technologies for high-speed and effective forming of ceramic crownworks and dentures of complex shapes, dental plates of small thickness are required.

Laser milling is an alternative technology to mechanical milling and has a lot of technological and economic advantages. Laser irradiation in near infrared range of wave-length offers great opportunities for making new ways of material processing for modeling and getting different types of crownworks and dentures.

Nowadays laser metalcutters can’t be applied on a wide scale because of low project financing. However, the prognosis shows that the expenditures will quickly pay off. At first, lasers don’t have consumables unlike dental cutters with chemical vapour deposition diamond coating which need to be changed from time to time because of their wear-out. At second, lasers have an advantage of thin-walled construction manufacturing, i.e.50-100 microns. Such plates look like natural teeth in any lighting. Mechanical works produce such effect only by lamplight. At third, laser treats materials more carefully. It saves time, increases the accuracy and lowers the price of the denture. These are the main benefits of the laser technology.