Steve:
We we felt that we could create a 15-20 micron fit to the dental implant. Our
research showed that we could produce a 2 micron Ra surface finish. As you
know, that is more precise than the imaging and rp. We used spark erosion
(EDM) to produce the final fit against copper or graphite electrodes machined
to the same geometry as the dental implants. By combining imaging, CAD, rp
and EDM with a constant 3d orientation the process can be easily coordinated.
The cost is actually less expensive than the conventional process because
there are literally thousands of different parts for dental implants and each
must be bought from different manufactures and mailed to the dental lab.
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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