3D Printer Manufacturer Formlabs presents Flexible Dental and BioMed Resins

Formlabs, a leader in 3D printing, introduces three innovative resins for the medical sector: BioMed Elastic 50A Resin, BioMed Flex 80A Resin and IBT Flex Resin. These new additions are expected to expand diverse healthcare applications and help reduce production costs and times, particularly in the areas of surgical modeling and medical device manufacturing.

The expansion of 3D printing applications in the healthcare sector, especially since the onset of the global pandemic, has revolutionized the way manufacturing is done and patient-specific solutions are delivered. Formlabs, for example, has produced 3D-printed swabs in the millions to meet the need during the healthcare crisis.

“The shift to 3D printing is accelerating in medicine and dentistry alike, giving patients the advantage of personalized care that delivers greater comfort and better outcomes,” said Guillaume Bailliard, president of Formlabs Healthcare. “Formlabs’ materials development team is creating new materials and solutions that further advance the use of 3D printing in medical and dental processes and expand the possibilities for patient-specific care. By adding these new elastomeric materials to our extensive library of biocompatible and dental materials, we are ushering in a new wave of personalized healthcare and digital dentistry that brings their benefits directly to patients.”

The new, flexible BioMed Elastic 50A Resin is designed for applications that require a soft, elastic material with patient comfort, biocompatibility and transparency. Here, it shows particular strength in applications involving personalized medical devices that require long-term skin contact, as well as gastrointestinal models for fluid visualization.

BioMed Flex 80A Resin, on the other hand, offers a robust, flexible solution for medical applications that require high transparency in addition to biocompatibility. This resin makes it possible to directly print flexible, patient-specific medical devices or solid tissue models for use in the operating room, bypassing additional mold-making processes.

Finally, IBT Flex Resin offers a solution specifically for dental applications by providing precise transfer of orthodontic brackets and composite materials for restorations, saving time and cost while ensuring the precision required for these processes.

The introduction of these new materials marks an important step for Formlabs towards a broader and more versatile application of 3D printing in healthcare, embracing both the medical and dental sectors while expanding the possibilities for patient-specific treatments and applications.