I recently had an incredible conversation with Georgio Haddad, Healthcare Lead at Formlabs Dental, on the Digital Dentistry Decoded podcast. Having followed Formlabs' journey for years and watched their evolution firsthand, this discussion provided some fascinating insights into where 3D printing is heading and how one of the industry's pioneers is positioning itself for the future.
Georgio has been in digital dentistry since 2014 - making him, as I joked, "the original digital guy" who's literally watched this industry transform from its infancy. His perspective on market dynamics, having worked both in distribution and now leading healthcare marketing at Formlabs, offers a unique view that I think every dental professional should hear.
Listen on Spotify:
Here is a recap of everything we spoke about:
The Form 2 Era: When Formlabs Ruled Dental 3D Printing
Let's be honest - Form 2 was massive in dental. As Georgio put it perfectly:
"I genuinely think the Form 2 helped catalyze intraoral scanner adoption and digital dentistry as a whole. Suddenly you had all the labs kind of risk-free investing in a Form 2 and printing those models of the intraoral scanners they were receiving from their dentists."
This hits on something crucial that many people forget. Form 2 solved what Georgio calls "the chicken and egg problem" between intraoral scanners and labs. Dentists wouldn't buy scanners because labs didn't want to invest in expensive equipment, and labs wouldn't invest without scanner adoption from dentists. Form 2's accessibility broke this cycle.
The Form 2 was actually my first ever 3D printer back in 2017. It was reliable, relatively affordable, and just worked. But then the market changed dramatically.
The Competitive Gauntlet: Why Formlabs Struggled
Here's where I have to give Formlabs credit for being honest about their challenges. The market got incredibly competitive - something that surprised me when Georgio explained how unique dental is compared to other industries.
"In dentistry, you know, like most other industries, there's only like two to three main players. That's it," Georgio explained. "But in dentistry, the business opportunity and the clarity of the application makes it kind of a bit more compelling business case for entrepreneurs."
This competitive intensity, combined with the market's shift toward faster LCD-based printing technology, left Formlabs' laser SLA approach looking slow by comparison. Their closed system also became a limitation as dentists and labs demanded access to specific resins like Lucitone for dentures or KeyPrint materials.
It's worth noting that Georgio emphasized how important it is to segment the market properly. "You always have to segment the market and understand it well. We have the labs and we have the dental practices where I would arguably go a bit niche and segment the dental practices into ortho practices who've been faster to adopt 3D printing."
In labs, the competitive landscape includes bigger industrial players like Carbon alongside dental-focused companies like Asiga. Interestingly, "Formlabs is actually the number one in installed base in US Dental Labs." In practices, it's more consolidated around Formlabs, Asiga, and SprintRay as the main players.
The Strategic Pivot: Speed + Openness
What happened at IDS this year was genuinely impressive. Formlabs made two fundamental strategic shifts that address their previous limitations:
1. Embracing Speed with MSLA Technology
They've moved from laser SLA to what they call "low-force display technology" (essentially MSLA/LCD printing). The results speak for themselves - "You can print 11 models in 9 minutes" or an "All-on-X in 20, 25 minutes," according to Georgio.
This was essential. The market had moved to expect fast prints, and Formlabs needed to catch up.
2. Opening Up with Open Material Mode
This might be even more significant than the speed improvement. Formlabs introduced Open Material Mode, allowing third-party resin companies to certify their materials for use on Formlabs printers.
The partnerships they've secured are impressive:
Dentsply Lucitone for dentures (this is huge - Lucitone is widely considered the gold standard denture resin)
Pac-Dent for various dental applications including popular resins like Titan and Sculpture
As Georgio noted: "For all those reasons and understanding the market, we basically did two shifts in the Formlabs brand and products. One, they're super fast now. Two, now they're super open with Open Material Mode."
Current 3D Printing Applications: What's Actually Being Printed?
One of the most valuable parts of our conversation was Georgio's breakdown of what applications are driving growth. His company sees the actual consumption data, so this is based on real usage, not marketing hype:
Models remain king - Still the bread and butter, and not going anywhere despite predictions about "modelless" workflows
Splints in second place - Recently overtook surgical guides due to the obvious advantages of 3D printing for this application
Surgical guides third - Still important but not the growth driver some expected
Dentures showing fastest growth - Though volumes aren't there yet compared to other applications
"Models continue to be the bread and butter," Georgio explained. "Every time I see like we're gonna see some decline in the restorative models because we're moving to modelless crowns... it's just not happening and it's not happening anytime soon."
The Printed Crown Debate: Reality Check Time
We had a frank discussion about printed restorations, and I appreciate Georgio's balanced perspective. The industry buzz around printed crowns is significant, but the reality check is important.
Current printed resins are achieving about "15% of the zirconia" strength in terms of flexural strength, according to our discussion. That's not close to the 1000+ MPa of zirconia or even the 300+ MPa of e.max.
But here's the thing - as I mentioned to Georgio, do we really need 1000+ MPa? Enamel is much lower. The bigger issue I see is aesthetics and long-term wear characteristics. We simply don't have the clinical data yet.
Georgio made an excellent point about learning from history:
"If you look at history and learn from it... there is that phase of skepticism and then the materials get better, and then the case studies and the academic evidence starts piling up to build that trust. Think of implants... or zirconia. Same thing when they first came out there was a lot of skepticism."
I wouldn't bet against printed restorations long-term, but they're not ready to replace e.max or zirconia today.
The Post-Processing Problem Nobody Talks About
One area where Georgio and I completely agreed is post-processing. It's what he calls "the dirty little secret of 3D printing."
Current post-processing for printed crowns is inconsistent and problematic. Spray too much and they go patchy white. Spray too little and they're sticky. There's no standardized protocol that works reliably.
"If we wanna gamble on chairside, we gotta make this whole thing very easy to use and solve the dirty little secret of 3D printing, which is the post-processing," Georgio noted. He mentioned that "post-processing 2.0" is a major focus area for Formlabs.
Market Adoption: Printers vs. Milling Machines
Here's something interesting from our discussion. I believe 3D printer adoption will significantly exceed chairside milling adoption, and the data seems to support this. Chairside milling sits around 10-15% adoption, and I think printers have already exceeded that.
Why? A printer is a workhorse that does everything - models, splints, surgical guides, and potentially restorations. A milling machine is more limited in application scope.
"On the lab side in the US, like 60% of labs have a printer. Medium to large labs, we're close to a hundred percent. All of them have 3D printers," Georgio shared.
But there's another crucial factor here - ROI clarity. As Georgio pointed out:
"Props to iOS intraoral scanners is a hard case to prove in terms of ROI compared to a 3D printer. 'Cause 3D printer, you're producing a product that you're eventually offering and selling, and then it's much easier to build the ROI case."
This touches on something I've always said - the ROI of a scanner without producing something is actually very low. You're basically just replacing impression material. But that's where people miss the point. Scanning isn't just about ROI - it's about standard of care and solving major pain points.
Every dentist knows the trauma of taking an impression on a gagging patient. I still remember my first impression as a dental student - alginate everywhere, patient dry heaving, absolute chaos. Most dentists have that memory, and scanners solve this completely. No more gagging, no more Impregum stuck on bridges, no more stress.
The Chairside Workflow Challenge
One area where I challenged Georgio was about Formlabs' position in same-day workflows. Currently, their build platforms are quite large, which creates some practical challenges for chairside printing.
My specific concern:
"My problem is getting like a 600ml bottle of crown resin and having to fill up a huge tank, and I use like 10 or 15 milliliters from it."
Georgio's response was interesting and shows their approach to product development:
"One thing we really dig into in our innovation cycles is not every solution communicated by customers is actually the solution to their problems. So you have to kind of double click on what are really the problems there that we're trying to solve."
Fair point - they're focused on understanding the root problems rather than just implementing requested features. It'll be interesting to see how they address chairside workflows going forward.
What Makes Formlabs Reliable
One thing that consistently comes up in reviews is Formlabs' reliability. Having used multiple printers, I can attest to this, but Georgio explained what makes their systems work so well:
"The cartridge, when you slide it in, it knows which cartridge type it is. It asks you to open up the cap and make sure it's open. The tank, the same thing. Has the sensors to make sure, and the RFID tags, that everything is done the right way... if you did something wrong, you got something in the tank, we have the mixer automatically detecting the debris, avoiding a bigger print failure."
These seemingly small details add up to a much more reliable printing experience. As Georgio noted:
"When you go talk to their staff and ask them, which is your preferred printer, and why? We come back to the real core requirement of our users in dentistry. They love the ease of use."
Aligner Printing: Not Ready for Prime Time
We discussed direct aligner printing, and I had to be honest about my experience - it was a mess every time I tried it. The post-processing was inconsistent, and if you mess up one aligner in a series, you're back to square one.
Georgio's perspective was more optimistic, particularly around the potential for variable thickness aligners:
"If aligner manufacturers managed to convince us about the other subtle advantages of aligners such as different thicknesses, can move different teeth at different speed and apply different forces, this could go a long way."
That's actually a fascinating point I hadn't considered - custom thickness based on the specific tooth movement needed.
Georgio's predictions for the near future are realistic and well-considered:
"In the next two years, I think it's all about execution more than crazy innovation... delivering on promises, putting your head down, making sure you're running a healthy business, solving the real problems for your customers."
The two "holy grail" applications everyone's working on remain:
Definitive permanent restorations (we covered the current limitations)
Directly printed aligners (interesting for custom thickness applications)
The Bottom Line
Formlabs' strategic pivot addresses their previous limitations head-on. They're now fast, open, and leveraging their core strengths in reliability and ease of use. The partnerships with Dentsply and Pac-Dent show they're serious about competing with established players.
Will this be enough to reclaim their early dominance? Time will tell. But having used their latest printers and seen the improvements firsthand, I think they're positioning themselves well for the next phase of 3D printing adoption in dentistry.
The market is consolidating around a few key players - Formlabs, Asiga, SprintRay, and potentially Shining 3D. Each has its strengths, but Formlabs' combination of reliability, ease of use, and now speed and openness makes them a serious contender again.
As Georgio said at the end of our conversation: "Let's make dentistry easier." That's exactly what the best technology should do.
Listen to the full episode with Georgio Haddad on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
