We just finished 10 teen cases using direct-printed aligners with a flexible, biocompatible resin and saw fewer refinements than our 0.75 mm PETG thermoforms, likely from the uniform thickness and tighter scalloped seals… If you’ve tested printed workflows, how are you handling margin finishing and patient-specific force control — variable thickness zones or still leaning on attachments?
@Guide Agree, but our Isolite mouthpieces beat iTero sleeves — about $4; we reserve for longer preps.
For finishing margins on printed, I do a 0.25 mm offset scallop anterior and straight cut posterior, then hit the edge with a Sof-Lex spiral at low RPM after a 2‑minute glycerin post-cure — otherwise the tacky smear drives me nuts. For force control, I add 0.2–0.3 mm local “pads” over target teeth in Meshmixer, which has outperformed our 0.75 mm PETG, but I still keep a small attachment if rotation >10°; did your “tighter scalloped seals” hold up past tray 8?
@danielp92 Same here vs 0.75 mm PETG — best force control has been printed “force ridges” (+0.25 mm) over rotation teeth instead of global variable thickness, and we extend post-cure to 20 min on teens to stiffen early stages. For finishing, we CAD a micro-score scallop and snap post-cure, then a quick silicone polisher pass, which keeps that tight seal; tiny caveat: on lower 6s we leave about 0.5 mm beyond the margin or seating gets fussy.