Dental Asia May/June 2020

Dental Updates
BEGO takes action in the fight against COVID-19
With COVID-19 pandemic being a major
challenge for the society, German dental
specialist BEGO is freely sharing its technical
resources in 3D printing and CAD/CAM for
the manufacture of utensils that can prevent
infection.
“It is very important to us to make a
contribution to society, and to use our knowhow
to help reduce the spread of the virus,”
explained Christoph Weiss, managing partner
of BEGO Group.
BEGO’s anti-corona commitment essentially
consists of three cornerstones:
• Users of a BEGO Varseo S or Varseo L
3D printer may download free design
files for do-it-yourself 3D printing of
useful utensils to prevent infection from
the BEGO website. Customers can print
modular frames for face shields
or breathing mask brackets, as
well as bring in ideas for other
useful parts.
• Components that are urgently
needed by hospitals and other
medical facilities are being
produced at BEGO Medical’s
high-tech production centre in
Bremen free of charge. These
include components made
using the SLM process (cobaltchrome)
or high-precision parts
Christoph Weiss (left), managing partner of BEGO Group,
presented 3D printed face masks to Martin Sztraka, chairman
made of titanium, cobalt-chrome
or PMMA in the milling process
for manufacturers of medical
devices.
of the Board of the Dental Association in Bremen (KZV) on 3 rd
April 2020
Association of Statutory Health
Insurance Dentists and distributed
• Additionally, BEGO Implant Systems is
manufacturing 3D printed protective
glasses, which are donated to the
by the latter to hospitals and medical
practices in Bremen and the surrounding
area. ■
Structo helps battle the coronavirus
With help from investors such as Wavemaker;
Enterprise Singapore; and EDB Investments,
3D printer solution provider, Structo, has
repurposed all available resources to focus
on manufacturing various medical devices
and PPE to help battle the coronavirus both
in Singapore and globally.
The Structo Nasopharyngeal
Swab, which are manufactured
in Structo’s ISO 13485-certified
facilities in Singapore, have been
filed and registered with the FDA
(Class 1) (United States) and HSA
(Class A) (Singapore).
Structo nasopharyngeal swab
To test for the presence of COVID-19,
healthcare professionals place a
nasopharyngeal swab into a patient’s nasal
cavity to collect a sample. The rapidly rising
number of suspected cases worldwide has
driven the shortage of swabs to keep up
with testing demands. “We have allocated
all available 3D printers in their facilities to
focus on manufacturing this medical device
round-the-clock,” said Structo’s founder
Huub van Esbroeck.
3D-printed face shields
Full-face shields are used as a
supplementary device to help
healthcare professionals stop the
spread of COVID-19 in hospitals.
With the global shortage of
personal protective equipment
(PPE) in healthcare institutions
such as surgical masks and N95
masks, these 3D-printed face
shields may serve as another
option. ■
Structo is working with institutions, researchers and government
agencies to produce 3D-printed face shields in the fight against
COVID-19
Nasopharyngeal swabs are being printed round-the-clock on
Structo printers
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DENTAL ASIA MAY / JUNE 2020