Roland DG announces its first wet mill for custom dental prosthetics

Roland DG Corporation, a leading worldwide provider of dental milling technologies, has announced a new "wet" milling machine, the DWX-4W, that will be available in Australia mid-year.

The recent introduction of CAD/CAM software, CNC milling machines and new restorative materials has revolutionised the production of dental prostheses, including crowns, copings and bridges. One of the most popular restorative materials is lithium disilicate, a glass ceramic which is extremely popular with dental clinics and patients for its superior hardness and aesthetic qualities. Roland developed the DWX-4W milling machine especially to meet the demands of this growing market.

"By providing a device capable of wet milling a wide variety of materials with reliable precision, we plan to complement our existing portfolio of conventional dry milling machines which already receive great support from dental labs worldwide," said Takuro Hosome, manager of medical business sales at Roland DG.

Roland DG has identified a market need that it intends to fill with the new wet-only DWX-4W.

"In the current market," Mr Hosome said, "we are familiar with products that combine the functionality of dry milling and wet milling into a single machine. While these machines can process a variety of dental CAD/CAM materials, they require a changeover when switching between wet and dry machining, which entails the disposal of milling residue, cleaning the inside of the machine and drying out the processing area. Furthermore, the combination of two separate functions in one machine means both functions are compromised to some degree.

"Instead, Roland DG's multiple device solution combines dedicted dry milling and wet milling machines with the advantage of being able to handle the simultaneous processing of different materials by both dry and wet milling without the inconvenience and delay of a changeover.

"Each machine specialises in its intended function, which delivers optimal functionality and, compared to a dual function machine, is more efficient. Furthermore, having separate machines opens up the ability to add an additional unit to meet production demands. For example, if the ratio of work involving zirconia and glass-ceramic is 3:1, an optimal setup could be a combination of a single unit of the flagship DWX-50 5-axis dry milling machine and a DWX-4W, or three 4-axis DWX-4 dry milling machines and a DWX-4W. After that, it is a simple matter to change the setup according to any shift in the workload.

Roland DWX-4W Features

1. User-friendly operation
Start milling the same day the machine arrives. No special electrical or water hook-ups are required.

2. Open architecture
The DWX-4W integrates with industry-standard 3D scanners and popular CAD/CAM software.

3. Versatility and reliability
In addition to milling on X, Y and Z axes, the DWX-4W rotates pin-type blocks 360 degrees on a fourth axis (A axis) to support undercuts. High-performance 60,000 RPM Jäger DentaDrive spindle supports precision milling of feldspathic, glass ceramic or lithium disilicate materials and new composite resin or hybrid ceramic materials.