Dandy needs to do for dental labs what trendy factories did for smartphones: make high-quality merchandise, quick, at scale, with out dropping the {custom} match sufferers want. In an interview with 3DPrint.com, Dandy’s Vice President of Robotics & Superior Manufacturing, Sriny Sundararajan, defined how the corporate is “stitching collectively 3D printing, AI, and robotics to ship mass customization” for crowns, bridges, dentures, evening guards, implants, and clear aligners.
Based in 2020 and based mostly in New York Metropolis, Dandy has already raised over $170 million from high buyers to rework the $30 billion dental laboratory trade. The corporate has surpassed $100 million in income in its first two years, constructed digital factories in Utah and Texas, and at present works with greater than 6,000 dentists throughout the U.S. Its totally built-in mannequin covers all the things from intraoral scanning to AI-assisted design, 3D printed prosthetics, and robotic ending, all beneath one roof.
“Dandy controls the total workflow, making it one of many few vertically built-in gamers on this multi-billion greenback dental lab trade,” Sundararajan emphasised. “Immediately, we’re in a change part the place we’re utilizing robotics and AI as effectively, AI on the design facet, and robotics on the manufacturing facet. Extra importantly, we’re making use of additive manufacturing at scale.”
Robotics at work in Dandy’s digital dental lab.
Vertical integration (with 3D printing on the middle)
In a nutshell, Dandy doesn’t promote manufacturing automation tools, at the least but. As a substitute, it runs a vertically built-in lab: dentists scan sufferers chairside, whereas Dandy handles design and manufacturing in its factories in Utah and Texas.
Sundararajan in contrast this method to Tesla’s mannequin: “Very like Tesla, which oversees all the things from design to manufacturing in its factories, Dandy is vertically built-in. It begins with the system that scans the affected person’s mouth. From there, we deal with the digital design of the dental equipment and transfer it straight into our personal factories for manufacturing. The one step we don’t handle straight is the ultimate supply, which fits out by UPS or FedEx.”
3D printing sits proper on the coronary heart of that workflow, particularly for removables like full or partial dentures and evening guards, that are generally printed at present. Mounted merchandise like crowns and bridges are sometimes milled, however all the things after printing or milling nonetheless requires detailed ending to match every affected person’s distinctive anatomy. That’s additionally the half Dandy is working to automate.
Whereas Dandy doesn’t disclose the particular manufacturers of printers it makes use of, the broader dental trade has been shifting towards large-format resin techniques purpose-built for prime throughput. Through the years, 3DPrint.com has been following how labs depend on machines like Carbon’s L1, EnvisionTEC’s Xtreme 8K, Stratasys’ J5 DentaJet, and 3D Methods’ Determine 4 Modular. These platforms are able to producing 1000’s of crowns, dentures, or fashions per day, making them perfect for the dimensions that firms like Dandy are focusing on.
Inside Dandy’s automated manufacturing line.
Mass customization (a “SKU of 1” drawback)
Sundararajan has so much to do with Dandy’s method. He spent years scaling automation at Apple throughout the iPhone’s explosive development, and later constructing digital twin software program. What drew him to dental was the prospect to use that form of scale to merchandise the place each unit is totally different.
Sriny Sundararajan.
“At Apple, we had been producing a big quantity of the identical SKU [Stock Keeping Unit] each time. Right here, each product is exclusive,” Sundararajan stated — what he calls a “SKU of 1.” In different phrases, every equipment is its personal distinct merchandise, custom-made for a single affected person. “If I might give it on the scale at which we are able to do a smartphone, then we now have unlocked one thing large, and robotics is a key ingredient of that.”
That’s additionally why Dandy doesn’t construct each part from scratch. As a substitute of reinventing the wheel, the group integrates confirmed constructing blocks, together with industrial robots, printers, and different {hardware}, and writes the application-specific software program and course of round them.
“We don’t make our personal printers; as a substitute, we take commercially accessible printers and combine them into {custom} techniques constructed for our purposes. Consider it like we don’t make our personal steering, however we’re making our personal automotive. We supply the robots, assemble the techniques, and collaborate with third events to construct the machines. Our focus is on the applying itself: understanding the particular issues in dental manufacturing and tailoring the know-how to unravel them.”
His group has grown to 30 engineers prior to now six months to drive that integration.
AI for inspection and design (turning defects into knowledge)
“If robotics is precision fingers, AI is the additional set of eyes. We’re utilizing pc imaginative and prescient and machine studying to catch defects that usually depend on a technician’s subjective visible examine. We now have constructed what I name an AOI, or automated optical inspection. We’re utilizing an AI mannequin to be taught from defects within the handbook course of, after which use cameras to seize dozens of pictures of a crown and apply that AI mannequin to search out defects. Normally, it’s achieved visually with a shade tab. We now have automated it utilizing cameras and AI.”
On the entrance finish, Dandy’s digital workflow additionally adjustments how dentists work. In accordance with Sundararajan, the corporate is the primary to supply stay design evaluations throughout scanning, permitting Dandy’s consultants to attach with a dentist in actual time, present rapid suggestions, and assist forestall errors that might in any other case require re-scans or additional affected person visits.
Robotic system handles dental restorations throughout ending.
Relating to manufacturing, Sundararajan didn’t share the precise figures, however identified that Dandy’s output is already within the 1000’s of items per day, a leap in comparison with conventional dental labs that common round 50 circumstances.
Relating to supplies, zirconia dominates mounted restorations like crowns and bridges due to its power and sturdiness. For detachable gadgets akin to dentures and evening guards, Dandy makes use of resins, together with some proprietary blends. Veneers are additionally a part of the combination, typically made with e.max, a ceramic materials thought-about each robust and natural-looking.
Why scale issues to sufferers (and dentists)
For those who’ve ever waited days for a crown that didn’t match, you understand the ache. Sundararajan needs to alter that have.
“The largest problem with conventional processes is that the equipment typically doesn’t match. It must be reworked regionally, and generally sufferers are despatched dwelling and requested to return. The place I see dentistry going is towards a extra seamless expertise — you are available as soon as, and all the things is taken care of earlier than you permit. That form of person expertise is the dream.”
At scale, this issues for each sufferers and follow economics. Sooner, extra dependable turnaround means dentists can plan care with confidence and sufferers keep away from repeat visits.
“With automation, we are able to produce higher high quality merchandise and supply items throughout the dedicated time,” he stated. “There’s no delay as a result of someone didn’t present as much as work. Plus, having it within the U.S. and serving the wants of the U.S. goes to be the important thing differentiator.”
The toughest drawback to automate (and why Dandy focuses there)
For any dental technician, ending is the place artwork meets science. Matching the shade, translucency, and floor texture of the affected person’s mouth is a person expertise, one thing Sundararajan compares to a fingerprint. Based mostly on an individual’s behaviors, the colour and shade of their tooth differ. As a result of it’s a creative work, no person has been in a position to scale this a part of the enterprise. However the govt says Dandy is bringing robotics into the ending stage to unravel that drawback.
That is additionally why additive is so precious past simply printing shells or fashions. Layer-by-layer management, mixed with imaginative and prescient techniques, AOI, and exact movement, creates that desired path to repeatable personalization.
Customized dental crowns being processed beneath automated ending tools.
Sundararajan believes now could be the second when the dental lab trade shifts from handbook craft to a digital scale: “Dental is at an inflection level. With what Dandy has achieved with its platform, automation goes to be the important thing.”
Current firm strikes again that up. In April, Dandy appointed Cong Yu as Head of Engineering, a former Google Analysis scientist and VP of Engineering at Celonis, and stated it will triple engineering and R&D funding in 2025. The corporate additionally reported surpassing $100 million in income in its first two years, and plans to rent greater than 50 engineers this 12 months throughout areas like superior geometry, CAD, and clever manufacturing techniques.
Sundararajan’s objective is aggressive: “Our goal is to achieve scale throughout the subsequent 12 months, if doable.”
For now, Dandy is concentrated 100% on dental. There’s nonetheless loads of room to develop, with tens of hundreds of thousands of People counting on crowns, dentures, or orthodontics (and with each case being distinctive).
“For those who solely want personalised healthcare in small volumes, people do it finest. However if you wish to make {custom} manufacturing inexpensive, then scale is vital. And if you wish to obtain this at scale, the one manner is by means of AI and robotics, robotics for precision, and AI on the design facet.”
He’s seen this earlier than at Apple and believes dental is headed the identical manner, “from artisanal bottlenecks to digital, automated, patient-friendly workflows.”
“For the final hundred years, dental has been handbook and craftsmanship,” he concluded. “We’re undoubtedly making an attempt to disrupt the trade and make the expertise higher for the top person.”
Pictures courtesy of Dandy
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