A dentist built MATIC 3D printers for surgical guides

MATIC 3D printers started in a dentist’s home, not on a Shenzhen factory tour. Dr. Bashar Al Noorachi (often called Dr. Basher in Latin script) is an Iraqi dentist who built Platinum Lab into a working dental laboratory before designing a printer so clinics would no longer have to wait on imported equipment. In a July 2025 UPodcast episode with Dr. Ali Jalil, the arc was framed in one line: childhood tinkerer, lab director, then the first 3D printer for dentistry assembled fully inside Iraq. MATIC began in a room at home. The point was never just a gadget. It was about chairside time. Professionals get a guide they can trust, and patients spend fewer visits under the drill. That is the real story. Hardware narratives at LEAP usually begin with a fundraise announcement. MATIC’s story begins with a lab that needed parts immediately. Dr. Al-Noorachi’s pitch remains focused on local maintenance and a complete clinical workflow. After showcasing at ITEX Iraq 2025 in Baghdad, MATIC brought this approach to LEAP 2026 in Riyadh from 31 August to 3 September at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre in Malham. While the Gulf exhibition floor was crowded with AI agent demonstrations, a printed surgical guide represents a quieter but far more commercially relevant proposition. A clinic that can print a guide overnight no longer needs to fly a model to Dubai. The product line MATIC now presents to dentists is the Magic Surgical Guide workflow , paired with its 3D printers. It is important to note that Magic Surgical Guide refers to MATIC’s proprietary clinical protocol and should not be confused with Materialise Magics , the Belgian dental CAD software that shares a similar name. The company’s clinical sequence is where the real value lies: Import data: Intra-oral scans and CBCT volumes are combined into a single case file. Dual scan technique: A scan of the patient and a scan of the prosthesis or radiographic template are registered so bone and the planned tooth share the same coordinate system. Principle of 3D implant position: The implant is placed digitally according to bone structure, emergence profile, and the final crown design, not by freehand estimation. Planning layer: RealGUIDE software (the 3Diemme planning suite widely used in implantology, often referred to as Real Guide in clinic notes) is the platform MATIC’s training focuses on for sleeve design and export. 3D printing of the surgical guide: The Magic Surgical Guide is printed on the MATIC machine using biocompatible guide resin, then washed and cured before clinical use. Drill protocol: The printed guide sleeves set the exact depth and axis so the osteotomy follows the digital plan precisely. Case presentation: The clinic can show the patient the planned path on screen, then demonstrate the physical guide on the model, and finally use it chair-side. This complete workflow is how Dr. Al Noorachi argues his printer benefits both sides of the dental chair. Dentists stop outsourcing guide production abroad, and patients avoid collecting multiple appointments while a guide is stuck in customs. Iraqi digital dentistry adoption remains low, with published surveys indicating printer use among dentists is in the low single digits. Clinics in Baqubah that have imported machines already offer same-day temporaries. MATIC’s proposition is a locally supported printer combined with a named guide workflow —not just another grey-market consumer printer repurposed for clinical use. LEAP represents the distribution test. ITEX proved to Iraq that the machine exists. Riyadh will determine whether GCC laboratories will stock essential components like replacement LCD panels, resin tanks, and certified guide resins . While official specifications remain unpublished—no public data on build volume, curing parameters, pricing, or units shipped—it is most accurate to describe MATIC as the first branded, dental-oriented commercial 3D printer with a local service bench developed in Iraq . It is important to note that hobbyist printers have existed in the country for years, and this MATIC should not be confused with the California-based floor robot company of the same name. If Magic Surgical Guide cases from LEAP result in signed clinic pilot programs, then Dr. Bashar’s founder story gains significant traction. If the exhibition stand was merely symbolic and the protocol remained just a presentation slide, then the printer remains a promising lab tool still seeking its commercial footing. In dental technology, the ultimate measure is not exhibition hall photographs but the number of guides successfully seated in patients’ bone. Count clinical outcomes, not trade show impressions.