Roland DG : Announces Shipment of 3000th DWX Series Dental Mill

Hamamatsu, Japan, July 3, 2015 - Roland DG Corporation, a leading worldwide provider of dental milling technologies, today announced that, as of the end of March 2015, it had shipped more than 3,000 DWX series dental milling machines worldwide for the manufacture of dental prosthetics such as crowns and bridges.

In the field of dental technology, advances in digital technology and materials, including zirconia and composite resins, are leading to more and more dental laboratories and clinics installing digital systems consisting of CAD/CAM software and milling machines to replace conventional casting methods. Within this growing market environment, Roland DG launched the DWX series dental milling machines in 2010 to apply its technologies related to 3D milling, cultivated over quarter of a century. Roland DG entered the market with the DWX-30 4-axis machine followed by the launch in 2011 of the 5-axis DWX-50 high-performance model. The DWX-30/50 at once improved Roland DG's presence in the market and was highly regarded for its desktop size, user-friendliness, open architecture for use in combination with popular CAD/CAM software and scanners, and affordable price. In 2013, the product line-up was bolstered by the launch of the DWX-4, which delivered ease of operation and excellent machining accuracy in a compact size. Today, Roland DG's DWX series is adopted at dental laboratories around the world, including America, Europe, China and Japan, and is contributing to the widespread digitalization of dental prosthesis production.

The purchaser of the 3,000th machine shipped in this series, a DWX-50 model, was Dental Support Company, Ltd. located in Chiba, Japan. The company is one of the largest dental laboratories in Japan and is heavily invested in CAD/CAM technology. It purchased the DWX-50 after being impressed with its excellent performance and ease of operation. The company specializes in dental visit treatment whereby examination and treatment are carried out by a team of three people -- a dentist, hygienist, and a specially-trained coordinator from the company -- who make visits to nursing facilities where it is difficult for the patients to travel. The company has its own dental laboratory to provide in-house support when dental prosthetics are required.

"Our mission is to protect and enrich the lives of patients," said Kensuke Shuto, Head of Dental Support's technical department. "When carrying out dental visit treatments, dentists use portable tools to perform simple procedures on-site. The digitalization of our laboratory allows precision dental prostheses to be produced quickly using CAD/CAM and the DWX-50. I think there is potential going forward to provide complete treatment on the same day by installing a compact DWX series milling machine in a vehicle combined with a scanner that can scan directly inside the mouth."

Dental Support is also endeavoring to improve dental technicians' working environments. "Long working hours is an issue in the dental technology industry," Shuto explains. "By digitalizing work that is normally carried out by hand, we can not only reduce the burden on dental technicians, but are able to increase time for work with greater value, such as finishing."

With demand growing for Japanese dental products worldwide, Dental Support is considering a combination dental care and medical treatment clinic opened in 2011 for overseas expansion. "We believe we can deliver dental prosthetics manufactured in Japan quickly to overseas customers using data captured on-site with intraoral scanners, while significantly reducing manufacturing and transportation costs and time."

"We entered the dental technology industry just 5 years ago," said Takuro Hosome, manager of dental business development at Roland DG. "By listening to the needs of dental laboratories combined with applying our long history of milling technology, we have been able to boost our presence in the dental industry over a short period of time. The success of Dental Support's business inspires more ideas for future digital solutions to the dental technology industry."

Dental Support Co., Ltd. is a leading dental industry pioneer and the first company in Japan to launch a business providing remote treatment in nursing facilities and hospitals. It provides a one-stop service for dentistry, medical science and nursing care, and is engaged in dentistry-based medical research and nursing support. The company's Dental Studio dental laboratory provides high-quality dental products to dentists all over Japan.