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In-Depth Information
Approximately 50,000 custom Invisalign
braces are 3D printed every day.
Today's irst wave of 3D printed body parts are made of a single material
such as metals, ceramic or plastic. They make sense commercially since their
market value rests on the fact they it closely into a uniquely shaped body. Their
custom shape, small batch production, and the fact they offer their manufac-
turer no economy of scale makes them perfect (and proitable) candidates for
3D printing. Getting past regulatory barriers is relatively simple. Unlike living
tissue or medications, inert bodily “bolt-ons” involve fewer urgent health risks
and their side effects are more predictable.
How about an artiicial limb that has sex appeal? Today, about two mil-
lion people in the United States have artiicial limbs according to a national
advocacy group, the Amputee Coalition. Most modern artiicial limbs are
still essentially unchanged from those itted onto soldiers returning from the
devastating battleields of World War II. An artiicial hand is made of metal,
and its ability to grip small things is provided by a pincer-like set of hooks.
Bespoke Innovations, a small San Francisco-based company recently acquired
by 3D Systems, designs and 3D prints custom prosthetic limbs. “The way most
artiicial limbs are made hasn't changed much over the years—you take a piece
of foam, shave it into a rough approximate of a person's leg, then make a mold
and stamp it out,” said Scott Summit, a co-founder of the company.
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The science of artiicial limbs is making a big leap forward thanks to improved
medical imaging technology, better design software, and improved materials.
3D printing offers amputees and doctors a previously unheard-of level of cus-
tomization. Bespoke's 3D printed limbs are designed to it exactly the shape of
the wearers' bodies and lifestyles and to appeal to their sense of style.
Bespoke's process begins with scanning both a patient's “sound side” leg and
their current prosthetic leg. The data is modeled into a computer design ile
