Dentistry and Printing: Beyond the Chairside Scan

Modern dentistry has quietly become one of the most print-adjacent branches of medicine — not through paper, but through precision manufacturing. The practice itself, though, still runs on the same signage and stationery as any other local business.

1985: The First Chairside Crown

CEREC, the first chairside CAD/CAM dental system, placed its first ceramic restoration in September 1985 at the University of Zurich, developed by Werner Mörmann and engineer Marco Brandestini. For the first time, a crown could be designed and produced in a single dental appointment rather than sent away to a lab for days. Align Technology's Invisalign later took the same digital, mass-customisation logic and applied it to orthodontics: a clear aligner series, manufactured individually for each patient's specific bite.

From Impressions to Digital Scans

Dentistry's real transformation has been the shift from physical impressions (that unpleasant tray of putty) to intraoral digital scanning, feeding designs straight to CAD/CAM milling or 3D printing for crowns, bridges, dentures, surgical guides and aligners. It's a genuinely different kind of "printing" to the ink-on-paper kind, but it shares the same underlying idea: a digital file, precisely reproduced, personalised to one specific patient.

What the Practice Itself Still Needs

Behind the high-tech chairside work, a dental practice runs on exactly the same everyday print as any other local business: appointment cards, practice signage, patient information leaflets, and reminder postcards for check-ups.

Where This Shows Up in What We Print

Practice signage through our large format & signage range, and appointment cards, leaflets and patient literature through business stationery & publications.

Frequently asked questions

When was the first chairside dental crown produced?

September 1985, using the CEREC system developed by Werner Mörmann and Marco Brandestini at the University of Zurich.

What is Invisalign an example of?

Mass-customisation: a clear aligner series manufactured individually for each patient's specific bite, using the same digital design logic as chairside crowns.

Do you print appointment cards and practice signage?

Yes, through our business stationery and large format signage ranges.