Add Alignment to Your Dental Practice With Blue Sky Plan

mm Written by Andrew Sedler

Burbank Dental Lab is immersing ourselves intentionally and aggressively into the digital dentistry community. As part of our ongoing pursuit of digital solutions for both Burbank Dental Lab and our dental clients, we evaluate and study many digital solutions as we look to the future. One such software solution is Blue Sky Plan’s Orthodontic software.

What You Will Learn In This Article

  • About the Blue Sky Plan Orthodontic Software
  • Download the Blue Sky Plan for free
  • BlueSky Plan Workflow
  • Burbank Dental Lab can do your plan

Blue Sky Plan Orthodontic Module

In 2017, Blue Sky Bio released the initial version of the Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontic Module. My purpose here is to help bring awareness to this software and what using this tool can do to bring you control over your ortho cases.
However, before we go forward, it is important to emphasize that while this is a GREAT tool, it is no substitute for education on the fundamentals of orthodontics. Additionally, I strongly advise that even if you have experience and training with ortho cases, that you take a course specifically on Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontics.

Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontics Courses

Dr. Baron Grutter is one of the foremost educators on Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontics. You can get a sampling of his material on YOUTUBE, but I recommend that you attend one of his live courses.

The Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontic Tool

Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontic is a tool you will likely want to integrate into your practice. The Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontics software is worth evaluating for use in your practice; it allows you to provide orthodontic aligners to many of your patients at a great value and still be very profitable for your bottom line.
You can download Blue Sky Plan for free by clicking the button below:

Blue Sky Plan Applications

The following applications are included with the Blue Sky Plan download:

  • Guided surgery planning
  • Orthodontic planning
  • Denture planning/set-up (coming soon)

You only pay a fee when you export files in a .stl  format for printing.

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For now, we will focus on the orthodontic module of the Blue Sky Plan but look for upcoming articles on digital dentures and more on surgical planning and guided surgery.

Blue Sky Plan Workflow

There is a very defined workflow built into Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontic Module. Following are the basic steps and details of the planning process.
  • Scan both arches and bite with either an Intra Oral Scanner (IOS) or a desktop scanner to scan the models. Articulate in the scanning software to prepare for export as .stl(s) file. Since you already articulated with your scanning software, they will be articulated in Blue Sky Plan.
  • Import both .stl files into Blue Sky Plan.
  • This step identifies the individual teeth and orients the model so that the software correctly positions teeth into virtual alignment with the head and face.
  • To mark the tooth, you apply a mark on the mesial then distal of teeth; this tells the software the position of each tooth and what the orientation of the teeth are in the face/head. 

Marking opposing model - Blue Sky Plan

 

  • In this step, you will define the border of the teeth and tissue. The Blue Sky Plan software allows you to click and drag each data point of the tooth outline or you can draw the margin by depressing the shift key and dragging over the outline of each tooth individually. This imitates how we use the segment model and wax the stone teeth back into the original position with the use of a putty matrix. 
  • Now you are ready to begin moving the teeth.

Blue Sky Ortho segment teeth

  • Blue Sky Plan - Orthodontic has several tools that will allow you to move the teeth to your desired position. 

    • Snap-to-arch is an excellent tool to quickly develop a basic alignment to an ideal arch form.
    • Snap Tooth function will align one tooth to the arch form.
    • Tip or Torque functions allow you to Tip the tooth with the pivot fulcrum set at the gingiva height, and the Torque function places the fulcrum of the pivot at the incisal edge.

Align teeth tool - Blue Sky Ortho

  • Once you have aligned the teeth to where you want them, the next step allows you to evaluate your plan based on aligner step duration. You can choose weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and the software will “reverse engineer” the movement on your schedule of aligners within the limits of movement that you have set defined maximums. 
  • This step will also allow you to pause specific teeth in the movement if there would be a collision. Then you can continue the movement in a later phase.

Evaluation step - Blue Sky Ortho

 
  • The final design step is to determine where you will be placing composite buttons on the teeth to create the desired movement most efficiently. 
  • There are three basic shapes of buttons that can be placed on the teeth. As you place them onto the teeth, you can move the alignment, angle, and height of the buttons. 

Blue Sky Ortho button placement and adjustment

Blue Sky Ortho buttons

 
  • In the final phase of the orthodontic planning, you can label each model with patient name and the step number. Once you have done this, you can export the model for printing.
  • The models are then used for the suck-down process of fabricating the aligners for each step of the orthodontic plan.

Invisible Orthodontic Aligners - Burbank Dental Lab

Blue Sky Plan & Burbank Dental Lab

You can send your models or scans directly to Burbank Dental Lab, and we can do your plan, print your models, and fabricate the aligners.

Blue Sky Plan's orthodontic and guided surgery planning software is a powerful tool that can add control and services to your practice. However, it is a tool that you will need to learn how to use and a necessity to develop your clinical knowledge and skills. It is essential that you seek out the basic education in these clinical areas in order to provide these services with excellence to your patients.

Burbank Dental Lab is dedicated to your digital success. Contact Burbank Dental Lab for more information on Blue Sky Plan and orthodontic aligners.

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Fabrication
of the future
is here!

Burbank Dental Lab has three new state-of-the-art Carbon M2 printers. We are very excited about the options that these cutting-edge printers will allow us to offer our dental clients. Here are some of the advantages that these printers will begin to deliver to you and your dental practice.

Our New
State-Of-The-Art
3d Printers

Carbon offers a highly dependable 3D manufacturing solution for many dental applications with its breakthrough Digital Light Synthesis™ technology, enabled by a wide range of dental materials.