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Imagine a tall ladder of body parts arranged in order according to their
complexity. Inanimate prosthetic parts would sit on the lower rungs. On the
middle rungs would be simple living tissue such as cartilage and bone. Above
simple tissue would sit veins and skin. Just below the top of the ladder would
reside complex, critical organs such as the heart and liver, and the brain.
Finally, perched atop the Ladder of Life would be complete living creatures,
or perhaps someday, fully functioning synthetic life forms. Today, 3D printing
technology has already placed its feet on the lower rungs of this imaginary lad-
der, aspires to the middle rungs and dreams of someday attaining the top rung.
3D printing the ladder of life
In a commencement speech at a Delaware High School, Joe Biden described
a glowing future, when “using 3D printers, we're going to be able to restore
tissue after traumatic injury or a burn, restore it back to its original state. It's
literally around the corner.”
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Biden's bold claims are just that: bold claims.
However, he's not entirely off the mark.
Let's start with the lowest rungs on the ladder—inanimate replacement
“body parts” such as dental crowns or artiicial limbs. The irst wave of com-
mercially available 3D printed body parts are already out there walking around
inside the bodies or regular people, perhaps even in yours. Non-living pros-
thetics such as 3D printed bone implants, dental crowns, contact lenses, and
hearing aids reside in thousands of humans worldwide.
Phil Reeves, the managing director of Econolyst, a consulting company
dedicated to the 3D printing industry, estimates that today there are “ten mil-
lion 3D printed hearing aids in circulation worldwide.”
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Invisalign braces—3D
printed, custom-made, clear disposable plastic braces that hide over a patient's
teeth to pull them into alignment—have been a tremendous commercial suc-
cess. There are an estimated half to three-quarters of a million 3D printed
dental implants travelling around in people's mouths right now.
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Like high-end 3D printed titanium airplane parts, 3D printed human body
parts represent the ultimate in small batch, direct to digital custom manu-
facturing. The process for teeth, hearing aids, and braces is similar: the body
part in question is scanned. The scan data is sent to a special lab where it's
adjusted into a viable design ile. The design ile is 3D printed into soft rubber,
hard and shiny ceramic, or soft lexible transparent plastic.
