IDS 2025 Observations: Stain Trends, All-on-X, and AI in Dentistry
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IDS 2025 Observations: Stain Trends, All-on-X, and AI in Dentistry
As the only freelancer at Ping Ho Dental Laboratory, I naturally wouldn't miss the biennial IDS held in Cologne, Germany.
This is already my second time representing the company at IDS in Germany. Compared to two years ago, my mindset and focus of learning have changed significantly. The first time I went, it felt like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden; my legs were incredibly sore every day, I took photos and notes frantically every day, and I marveled daily at how thriving the dental industry actually is. Back then, I was still building a basic understanding of the global dental industry. Compared to the first time when I knew nothing, this time I could more clearly see the trends and technological breakthroughs closely related to my own work and the field of dental technology within this vast "ocean" of the dental industry. Also, thanks to my previous experience, I felt more confident this time to communicate with the original manufacturers' technicians to discuss the applications and development of their products.
Here is a brief summary of my minor observations at this IDS from a dental technology "outsider" perspective:
1. External stains of various brands
Stains have been a growing trend in recent years, but two years ago, external stains (also known as liquid porcelain powder) did not feel like a "standard configuration" in the market. For most clinical cases, if more translucency is needed or the color is desired to be more natural, 4Y or 5Y zirconia blocks are generally preferred during fabrication; however, high translucency is usually accompanied by the disadvantage of weaker strength. This might be fine in the anterior region or for short-span cases, but when fabricating anterior 3-3 or long-span cases, there are concerns about the risk of fracture due to insufficient strength. At this point, one can only choose 3Y zirconia blocks, which have higher hardness but lack translucency and gradation. The strength issue is resolved, but what about translucency and color? This is where stains play an important role.
Using liquid porcelain powder for micro-layering or staining after zirconia sintering is a fast and convenient aesthetic solution in today's CAD/CAM workflow. This is perhaps why almost every zirconia manufacturer synchronously launched external stains similar to MiYo or Aidite this year. Of course, for dental technicians who are users, the more diverse the choice of stains, the better we can combine them to find the most suitable staining method.
Among the many newly launched stains this time, Paint 3D, launched by Ivoclar's subsidiary Sagemax, is something I would like to try if it comes to Taiwan in the future.
Sagemax Paint 3D
miyo
2. Scan Body Dedicated to All-On-X
When choosing or evaluating an intraoral scanner, many dentists and technicians often ask: "How many implants can it scan accurately?" But is the answer to this question really about the intraoral scanner itself? It doesn't seem so now.
Intraoral scanners have been developing for many years. In the past, 3shape might have dominated, but now there is a contest among a hundred schools of thought. However, we can see that the progress of intraoral scanners in recent years has actually not been very obvious. With 3shape launching trios 6 at IDS this time, it feels no different from the previous generation during trials. Compared to hardware, it feels more like an upgrade in software applications and user experience. Intraoral scanners are no longer just a tool to record the intraoral state, but a tool to assist dentists in diagnosis. For example, 3shape combines AI in software applications to detect caries, recession, and plaque, and then tells patients how to care for or improve their oral health through the patient-side app. But do we really need these functions?
So when the hardware upgrade of intraoral scanners stopped to a certain extent, implant manufacturers started to find their own ways, leading to the emergence of scan bodies specifically designed for All-on-X. Through the optimization of the scan body design, the scanner can record the position of the implant in small areas more quickly and accurately.
Another method is through photogrammetry, which uses special-shaped scan bodies to locate implants through photography measurements, and then imports them into proprietary software for matching and interface replacement with intraoral scan files, avoiding the error-prone problem of overlapping multiple pictures under the principle of intraoral scanning. Many well-known third-party manufacturers have actually developed this kind of scan body specifically for All-on-X. Now it depends on who can support the most multi-unit implant systems.
SHINING 3D coded scan body
PIC Dental PIC system
GeoMedi ArcB scan body
TruAbutment ioConnect
3. AI-Based Cloud Application Software
AI, as expected, has not missed the dental field in this wave. Two years ago at IDS, there were already some design softwares combining AI computation, such as Dentbird. But the feeling this year is that you see the word "AI" almost every few steps.
In terms of cloud-based design software, it used to be mainly for single crowns. By uploading intraoral scan files or model scan files, and then setting up the relevant conditions and orders, AI could generate a crown for you. Two years ago, we tried using related services. If it was a relatively simple and uncomplicated case, the crown shape calculated by AI was indeed quite reasonable. However, if the conditions were slightly poorer, the generated crown shape was not only suboptimal, but the time the technician spent adjusting the shape was far greater than directly redesigning it from scratch. However, this year, such AI software feels significantly upgraded. Besides boasting the ability to automatically generate 2-3 unit bridges, it can even automatically handle nesting/layout operations for us. If used wisely, it might improve the overall work efficiency of dental technicians. Yet, while feeling the progress of AI, one cannot help but ponder that perhaps we dental technicians need to continue learning more advanced and complex digital tech, applying digital applications to more complex cases. If we just stand still and stay in our original comfort zone, there might come a day when we are replaced.
Thank you for reading to the end. Whether you personally visited IDS 2025 or not, I hope this article brought you some inspiration or practical information. Just like the last session, this IDS also involved walking twenty thousand steps day after day, leaving me with sore legs (it's really noticeable 😂). However, I was still very happy to be able to exchange and interact with colleagues from all over the world at the exhibition, and I also learned a lot of new knowledge and experience from them.
Postscript: This time, seeing Invisalign's app combine with AI to simulate what patients look like before and after orthodontic treatment was truly amazing. Simply by shooting a video of a few seconds, and then waiting about five minutes for post-processing, there is a pre- and post-treatment video for reference. If I were the one undergoing orthodontic treatment today, I'd probably be sold immediately after watching it. AI is too powerful. 😵💫
PING HO DENTAL LAB — WHERE ACCURACY MEETS AESTHETICS
