BiiB overdenture bars now available

Stoneglass® Industries has added overdenture bars to its range of custom-milled titanium products as part of the new BiiB (Bio-Infinitum® Implant Bridge) brand.

The company now offers dental labs custom-milled copings, bridges and bars, abutments and more from zirconia, plastic or titanium.

"We've had a very good response to the BiiB range since we launched two months ago," said Georges Sara, managing director of Stoneglass Industries. "Our clients are particularly pleased with the versatility of what we can offer as well as the fact our titanium products come in a highly finished state. Most people believe we polish everything but the precision of our milling machines is such that it produces everything with a very high shine."

Mr Sara said that at present, all BiiB's were being scanned at their headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Homebush while protocols are developed to allow their network of scanning partners to scan remotely as happens with the other products in the company's range.

"The level of precision that we currently mill full span titanium bridges with several fixtures attached is such that even a temperature and humidity difference between where the model is scanned and milled can have an affect on the result," he said. "In order to maintain optimum quality control in our launch phase, we are scanning and milling in the same facility at present.

"Once we have the right protocols in place and have rolled out software upgrades and training to all our scanning partners, we will be able to integrate BiiB into our regular workflow."

Mr Sara said that to order the BiiB now, technicians should design the bridge or bar using pattern resin, plastic analogs and light-cure tray material (Figure 1). Then download and complete the "scanning application for titanium superstructures" form from www.stoneglass.com.au.

"Once we receive the application and the design, we scan it and import it into our proprietary software. All attachments are then virtually aligned and placed (Figure 2). All machining strategies are automatically calculated and the BiiB is milled (Figures 3 and 4)."

The finished bar seen here is shown with Locator Attachments. All attachments are drilled and tapped automatically (Figure 5). The finished bar is checked inside the key taken of the anatomical setup of the final tooth position (Figure 6).

The completed bar with Locator Attachments is shown in Figure 7. Turnaround time is currently 5 days from receipt of the models.