Production Methods for Manufacturing an Orthodontic Palatal Expansion Appliance - Focus on Digital Workflow

Due to the continuous development of digital manufacturing methods, numerous possibilities for the production of orthodontic appliances are available. Digitalized workflows have become an indispensable part of dentistry. By reducing manual sources of error, digital systems offer an increase in quality as well as cost efficiency, alongside with increased patient comfort. Intraoral data acquisition is of utmost importance, as the course for the entire digital workflow is set from here on. In the subsequent manufacturing process, it can be distinguished between additive and subtractive methods. In this article, the current CAM methods will be presented and compared on the basis of manufacturing options for a palatal expansion appliance. All manufacturing processes could be shown to be suitable for producing the palatal expansion appliance.