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Text: James Woodcock
SHINING 3D has launched the Ceramix-Nano, a chairside dental printer that produces permanent ceramic crowns, veneers, inlays, onlays and ‘Maryland’ bridges within a single appointment. The system uses Shining’s patented APS, or Adaptive Pneumatic Stereolithography, process and completes the full scan-to-restoration cycle in as little as 30 minutes, says the company.
The development is an example of ongoing miniaturization and integration in niche systems. At 2 kg and roughly the size of a shoebox, the unit combines printing and curing in one device, needing no dedicated lab space. Its material comes in capsules of pre-measured ceramic-filled resin: scanning the capsule's QR code is enough for the printer to configure itself, stir the resin and start. A single capsule reportedly yields up to three restorations. Bridges up to 38 mm can be printed or multiple crowns, veneers inlays or onlays in a single build.
LumiCera is a photopolymer filled with more than 50 % ceramic to help create long-lasting mechanical strength. The parts are not a sintered technical ceramic, so it is a different beast from lab-sintered crowns with a different property ceiling. It launched first in North America and Asia, with European availability to follow.
