3D Systems NextDent is expanding its denture jetting portfolio. The company is adding three new shades of gum tones. That will let the solution look more natural on more patients. Now it will have Dark Pink (DP), Light Pink (LP), and Red Pink (RP) in addition to the original NextDent Jet Base LT (Light Tone).
Better, more natural-looking dentures can make people feel more comfortable wearing them. Blending with a person’s natural colors is one of the main reasons to use jetting in the first place. These kinds of multi-material dentures are growing rapidly because they´re easy to finish, require less labor, and come in many colors, while maintaining a high level of accuracy and detail. The color mixing enabled by the NextDent 300 printer and the White and Yellow shades means that many people will be more pleased with the result, while the dentist will be pleased with their bottom line. In the US alone, 40 million people have dentures, which generally cost over $1500. Around 15% of the patient population is thought to replace them annually. Printing costs are reportedly under $100, depending on the technology used, so this is a potentially very lucrative market.
The company says that the manual labor is half of what it would entail in traditional dentures, with turnaround happening in one day instead of the usual five. A digital process or mostly digital process also saves time for the dentists and their assistants, so they can see more patients. The parts also come out of the machine fully cured, minimizing staff handling and contact with photoinitiators and the like.
3D Systems NextDent 300 Printer. Image courtesy of 3D Systems.
Stijn Hanssen, Director of Dental Solutions for 3D Systems, said,
“These new base shades give labs the tools they need to meet real patient diversity with high-quality, predictable results. Coupled with our one-piece jetted workflow, dental professionals can now deliver dentures that provide an outstanding patient experience through superior beauty, comfort, durability, and efficiency.”
NextDent Jetted Denture Solution. Image courtesy of 3D Systems.
Meanwhile, Josh Jakson, President of Evolve Dentistry, added,
“The material performance stands out. We’re running faster, with less labor and greater confidence in shade consistency and durability.”
3D Systems’ dental solution received clearance in September 2024, with the product being commercially available in August 2025. So far, other solutions on the market would require multiple 3D prints to be cleaned and assembled into one. Even then, the result looks less like the existing gum and teeth. Quantica also wants to make ink jetted dentures, as does Stratasys. For now, 3D Systems is the only solution on the market, and the company is clearly keen to expand into this arena.
“It is important that we have a consistent output, every time. The Nextdent 300 is delivering a 3D printing process that we can truly scale with,” Jakson continued.
Dental is a remarkably mature area for 3D printing. Competition is fierce, with some solutions being printed by local dentists, local labs, and national labs, all with their own competitive dynamics. Low-cost systems, Pro systems, and large industrial systems are being used. But, and this is unique to dentistry, we can see chairside and other specific 3D printers being designed for very specific customer groups and users within those groups. Software is usually quick, easy to operate, and integrated into straightforward workflows. Giant dental companies, big materials firms, and dental distributors vie for a piece of the pie as well. If the rest of the 3D printing industry were as mature and solution-driven as dentistry, our industry would be much bigger. In dentistry, affordable, high-throughput, and fit-for-purpose solutions predominate. Coupled with the regulatory burden, this means that this is very much a measure three times cut once market for many, while somewhat surprisingly, there are also a lot of versatile, entrepreneurial companies as well. This combination makes dental a kind of window into the future for our industry. At the same time, for the likes of 3D Systems, it’s big business. The company must therefore make the most of its time as the sole jetted dentures supplier to get ahead of those who will inevitably come next.