exocad Chairside CAD - The most flexible CAD software for the clinic

One of the items on many practices' bucket lists nowadays is an intraoral scanner and a chairside mill or 3D printer of some description. Whereas the concept of chairside scanning and milling of restorations was commercialised more than 30 years ago, affordability has been perceived as a barrier by many practitioners. As digital dentistry has continued to gain pace, however, more options from more vendors have become available, resulting in solutions at lower price points.

Marrying the Shining 3D intraoral scanner to the DGSHAPE DWX-42W mill, for example, has the potential to offer a very cost-effective chairside restorative solution. However, the CAD software necessary to make this solution funcational has been lacking. With the release of the latest Chairside CAD 2.3 from exocad, however, that has now changed.

Chairside CAD is the first hardware-neutral CAD solution for the clinical environment and it was first launched in 2019. The new Chairside CAD 2.3 Matera release now offers the widest range of indications in the market for Chairside CAD software.

The first release offered the usual staples such as crowns, bridges, inlays onlays and veneers, bite splints and provisionals and worked very well with these, however, people wanted more.

With five new modules, the software can intelligently expand the individual practice's offerings. The new modules are:

• Smile Creator: The ideal tool for 2D / 3D aesthetic planning of restorations, ensuring predictable results;
• Model Creator: Suitable for creating physical models from digital impression scans;
• Jaw Motion Import: Patient-specific jaw movements can be imported from various measuring systems and used directly for optimal design of the occlusal surface;
• DICOM Viewer: This module impresses with its outstanding speed when loading CBCT images, which can be visualised together with intraoral scans and construction data. In addition, patient photos and three-dimensional facial scans can be used in combination to create a comprehensive fully digital representation of the patient; and
• Implant Module: This enables the design of abutments, screw-retained crowns and bridges.

Further highlights of the new 2.3 Matera release include:

• Greatest flexibility in the selection of scanners and milling machines while offering simplified integration;
• Perfectly integrated production system: the positioning of the reconstruction in the milling blank takes place directly in the CAD workflow. Predictable results can be achieved quickly, especially when using colour scans and multilayer materials;
• Control multiple milling machines directly from within the exocad software;
• Seamless integration with exocad's guided surgery solution exoplan; and
• Improved photorealistic representation of the finished restoration. An interactive 3D preview can also be exported as a web link and viewed in all popular browsers - even on mobile devices - without the need to install software.

Along with the introduction of this new release, the pricing has been restructured for Chairside CAD with:

• Extension of the price list, with five new modules; and the
• Introduction of bundles with attractive prices tailored to the needs of the practice as follows:
• Mill Bundle: For dentists who wish to offer a complete range of milled restorations for single-visit dentistry;
• Print Bundle: For dentists looking to get the most out of 3D printing in their practice; and
• Ultimate Bundle: Includes all available modules, for milled and printed restorations / appliances to cover a wide range of indications.
• Introduction of a Scan & Send license which includes ChairsideDB, the point of entry to your digital dentistry platform. From there you can launch scanning, collaborate using dentalshare and start design as well as any production processes. The CAD license can be subsequently activated on the "Scan & Send" dongle at any time for an additional charge; and
• Introduction of stand-alone modules: For dentists who only want to use Smile Creator, DICOM Viewer or Model Creator without the full Chairside CAD function.