Rapid Prototyping Comes To Dentistry

Have you ever thought of what would happen if your dentist could quickly scan your jaw and "print" your new teeth using a rapid prototyping machine?  Instead of waiting days or weeks for a cast to be produced and prosthetic dental implants to be made?

Good news!!  Iranian researchers have recently explained “how medical imaging, coupled with computer-aided design could be used to create a perfect-fit blueprint for prosthetic dentistry.”

“The blueprint can then be fed into a so-called 3D printer to build up an exact replica using a bio-compatible composite material.  Such technology has been used in medical prosthetics before, but this is an early step into prosthetic dentistry using rapid prototyping,” was mentioned in a recent article posted in the International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing by mechanical engineer Hossein Kheirollahi of the Imam Hossein University and colleague Farid Abbaszadeh of the Islamic Azad University, in Tehran, Iran.

The Iranian team has recently demonstrated how rapid prototyping can be used to easily fabricate dental objects, like implants and crowns.  The team also mentions that the most appropriate medical imaging technology is CBCT (cone-beam computed tomography).

Source: The International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing