Materials

Open vs Closed Dental CAD/CAM Materials: What Labs Should Know

2020-03-14

"Open vs. closed" is not about the material — it is about who controls your workflow after you buy the disc.

Open materials

An open disc works on any mill, exports to any CAD, and is priced by the market. You are never hostage to one vendor's puck.

Closed materials

Brand-locked blanks may need proprietary holders or firmware; convenient, but a discontinued puck can strand your machine. The "discount" is paid back as lock-in.

The real test

  1. Can the disc run on a second mill? If yes, it is open.
  2. Does the file export without a watermark or paywall? If yes, it is open.

Every zirconia, PMMA, and PEEK disc we sell is open-system and mill-agnostic.

Total cost of ownership

OpenClosed
Disc priceMarketPremium
MigrationAny millOne vendor
SupportSelfBundled

De-risk a closed buy

  • Ask the discontinuation policy in writing.
  • Keep one open mill as exit.
  • Archive native files, not just STL, so you can re-cut elsewhere.

References & Further Reading

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