The most valuable player of quarantine for me has been Peloton. Between the bike and the tread, not being able to go to the gym was no problem. I have been able to knock out great workouts—maybe even better—without leaving my home.
When I went to the gym regularly, stretching was never part of my routine. I finished my workout and left. I was missing a vital part of health by skipping stretching. At the end of every Peloton class is a few minutes of stretching. They make it easy to do that last finishing step to get a great result. The same can be said of 3-D printing. Once the print is done, we have some finishing work that needs to be done before we can say we are finished. Like stretching for me, many folks skip this step because it hasn’t been made easy. SprintRay has stepped in with the Pro Cure to make this process simple.
With 3-D printing in dentistry, printing is only part of the equation. While I love the SprintRay Pro, there are other printers on the market that work as well. No matter what printer you use, the Pro Cure should be on your radar for the postprocessing.
The first step in postprocessing of a 3-D print is an isopropyl alcohol (IPA) bath. I do this in an old ultrasonic with 91% IPA. The model, night guard, or surgical guide goes in for a 5–10 minute cycle. After that is over, the print gets a good rinse and scrub with a toothbrush; then, it’s time for the Pro Cure. After a print is over, there are still free monomers in the resin. We must crosslink those to get to the full strength of the materials. That’s what Pro Cure does.
Pro Cure is a standalone curing unit that heats and cures your prints to complete postprocessing. Any Food and Drug Administration-approved in-mouth use resin is required to have a postprocess cure. Pro Cure does it in style. It has a 90-watt LED array that cures with a wavelength range of 365–405 nm, which is a broadband spectrum to cure almost any 3-D printed material.
The capacity of the Pro Cure is huge! It can cure up to 30 full arches of models at one time. You load up your print, select your postcure cycle based on your material, and walk away. Pro Cure does the rest.
Pro Cure is preloaded with cure cycles for popular materials. With its USB interface, you can set up and add your own if desired. This makes it basically futureproof. The Pro Cure’s construction is solid and sturdy. The LED arrays are easily replaceable should one burn out. The Pro Cure can be a workhorse in your 3-D printing processes for years to come. Line drive base hit to right field for SprintRay’s Pro Cure!
Joshua Austin, DDS, FAGD, FACD, writes the Pearls for Your Practice column in Dental Economics. After graduating from the University of Texas Health Science Center Dental School, Dr. Austin associated for several years. In October of 2009, he opened a solo general practice in a suburban area of San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Austin is involved in all levels of organized dentistry and can be reached at [email protected].
