3-D Printing: Prosthetics, Dental Appliances and More!

The Future is Here! (Almost)

The growth of 3-D printers is offering an explosion of benefits for medical manufacturing. As use of the technology grows, the implications for the production of  medical products, from prosthetic devices to dental appliances, are just now being realized.

According to the New York Times “state-of-the-art prosthetic replacements are complicated medical devices, powered by batteries and electronic motors, and they can cost thousands of dollars. Even if children are able to manage the equipment, they grow too quickly to make the investment practical.”

3-D printing offers a practical and cost-effective method of producing medical devices, that given the price, have previously remained out of reach for far too many of those in need.

For dental offices, 3-D printing takes the efficiencies of digital design to the production stage. By combining oral scanning and 3D printing, dental labs can accurately and rapidly produce crowns, bridges, stone models and a range of orthodontic appliances.

 

With a 3-D printer doing the hard work, we soon will eliminate the need to do manual modeling and will be able to fabricate dental appliances quicker and at a fraction of their current cost.

 

For those eager for the day when everything from scheduling to finished restoration can be achieved digitally and quickly, the future is (almost!) here.