In this article, we will go over how to send Automate Nightguards & clarify common questions.
Caution! Do not use this service for patients with dental implants. Always post-check the design to a model to assure fit, not recommended for a model-free workflow.
- All teeth and surrounding gingiva must be captured in the scans. Pay special attention to coverage of the most posterior molars.
- If a tooth is missing but its two neighbors are present, or if there are large diastemata, the service will create a design with the gap(s) filled with material. If you do not like the additional retention that material provides, consider removing it physically from the produced nightguard.
- Produces flat plane nightguards only!
- Not able to send via the Automate button in 3Shape or import the order back into 3Shape
Step 1:
- If you set up your order in 3Shape, these settings do not carry over. Please check with your material and printer for the recommended settings and set those as your defaults to start with, some adjustments may need to be made to achieve the desired fit.
- If you do not know your settings or would like a recommended starting point use:
- Min thick: 1.50mm / Inward retention: 0.00mm / Crevice Blockout: Moderate / Offset: 0.07mm
- Once you have your desired preferences, click save as new defaults
What do the settings mean?
Minimum Thickness: The target material thickness on occlusal surfaces in the posterior region and also the target wall thickness on buccal and lingual surfaces (see inset 3 in the figure). The higher the value of minimum thickness, the larger the occlusal opening, and hence also the larger the material thickness in the anterior region.
- Minimum thickness is the value of the posterior thickness. Since the mouth opens on a hinge the Anterior thickness will be greater than the posterior.
Inward Retenion: The largest allowed undercut as measured orthogonally to the insertion axis from the widest point above the undercut towards the tooth surface in an undercut region. A value of zero corresponds to complete block out of undercuts in a physical model, and a value of X corresponds to a complete blockout with a material thickness of X then removed from the blockout wax. See inset 1 in the figure; the part of the undercut region that is blocked out is green and the part of the nightguard in the undercut region - providing inward retention - is magenta.
- The higher the value for inward retention, the more the nightguard will "clamp" onto the dentition (teeth).
Crevice Blockout: The target degree of virtual wax filling to block out grooves and interproximal regions (see inset 2 in the figure). Crevice blockout is applied based on overall surface appearance and gap sizes. Very light will blockout interproximal gaps up to roughly 100 to 150 microns, very heavy will block out interproximal gaps up to roughly 750-800 microns. Crevice blockout has no effect on flat or only slightly curved surfaces.
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If minimum blockout is applied then the internal aspect will mimic the shape and anatomical features of the scan. When more blockout is added, it is applied to the tight spaces and deep anatomy of the scans to provide a more smooth finish to the inside of the nightguard
Offset: The target distance between nightguard and tooth surfaces. It will be adhered to everywhere but in regions affected by blockout and inward retention (see inset 4 in the figure)
The designed nightguard may not exactly conform with all input design parameters, because some compromise may be needed in order to achieve a good overall shape. In particular, small areas with thickness smaller than the input minimum value can occur when a desirable bite opening takes precedence.
Step 2:
There are 2 ways to submit a case:
1. Creating the order in 3Shape Dental System
- Must be sent in Occlusion!
- Export the order out of 3Shape
- Settings in the Automate portal MUST be applied prior to submitting the order, Dental System Material settings to not transfer to Automate Nightguards
- Select the desired turnaround time
- Drag and Drop the order
2. Raw STL’s (upper & lower) in one compressed zipped folder, folder, or both upper/lower scans selected and dropped at the same time (Must be in occlusion)
- STL files must be named “upper.stl” and “lower.stl” to properly identify.
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- “upper”, “maxilla”, “occlusion_u”, or “superior” are also identifiers as upper scans. The same goes for lower jaw naming.
- Supported formats include - OBJ, PLY, STL, DCM
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- Must be sent in Occlusion!
- Settings in the Automate portal MUST be applied prior to submitting the order, Materials do not transfer.
- Select the desired turnaround time
- Drag and Drop the order
Step 3:
Reviewing the case by a series of photos
- Blockout (seen in green)
- Bite as scanned QC = How the bite was received. QC image shows what your original bite looked like with occlusal contact points as you uploaded it. It is important with 3Shape Automate Nightguards (ANGs) that you always upload your case with the bite in the closed position. This QC image gives you confirmation of that.
- Thickness/Retention: Thickness of lingual posterior cusp should be close to what you, the customer ordered, see white circle and measurement compared to min thickness. As you move to the anterior, the splint becomes thicker = blue.
- ThicknessQC Image with heat map shows you the overall thickness and minimum thickness achieved in the posterior.
- RetentionQC image shows you the areas where the ANG engages the arch with some retention.
Step 4:
When done reviewing, you can reject or accept the design, or you can skip the order, postponing a decision until later.
- If you accept, the browser will download a zip file with the CAM stl file for the nightguard and you will be charged. The next undecided order (if any) is automatically loaded into the review page. Closing the review page will take you back to the Results page.
- If you regret a rejection, set the view in the list on the Results page to show all recent orders, view it again, and accept. You cannot undo an accept action.
For your convenience, the nightguard in the downloaded CAM stl file will be oriented as recommended by many 3D printer manufacturers.
*It is not possible to edit the downloaded nightguard in 3Shape software.
Key Points:
- US customers only
- Borders CANNOT be changed
- Flat plane nightguards only
- Cannot import the order back into 3Shape
- Designed for printing only, milling is not recommended
- ALWAYS send in occlusion
- Settings MUST be set before sending an order on the Automate site
Strategy on Border Placement:
You will notice that the placement of the border in the anterior region is slightly shorter with less coverage over the height of contour. This was specifically designed this way to enhance the ease of insertion of the night guard.
Due to the single path of insertion, we have optimized the night guard borders to engage in the undercuts of the posterior teeth while maintaining a passive fit in the anterior. This strategy gives the patient enough retention to fully engage in the mouth with out having too much force in the anterior region when taking the night guard in and out.
Pre-determined bite opening:
We now have the ability to accept a pre determined bites for Automate night guards.
If a set of scans are sent to Automate with the bite already opened, Automate will use that bite opening to establish your occlusal thickness.
You also have the ability to set a wall thickness value under "Settings"
Min. Wall Thickness -The target material thickness on the lingual and buccal sides of the guard where these can be thinnest. More material will be added on the sides if necessary for an even occlusal contact over the bite surface, in particular in the anterior region. Note that because this parameter is not really order-dependent, it is set on the Settings page.
*The "Occlusal Thickness" parameter setting will be ignored on orders that are sent with a pre determined bite opening. Automate will default the the bite provided to establish the occlusal thickness.
Please email Customer Support at automate@3shape.com or Chat with us for any further questions!