83 year-old woman got 3D printed mandible

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2012/02/05/83-year-old-woman-got-3d-printed-mandible/

by DanielRibeiro • 14 years ago

50 10 14 years ago

sp332• 14 years ago

I'm extremely impressed that this just took a few hours. How did they get the right shape? Did they just print a copy of an old (pre-infection) scan of her mandible? Or did a doctor "clean up" the scan of her current, damaged jaw?

Luc• 14 years ago

That's just the printing time. Designing the jaw took much longer (it's a complex joint apparently), and after printing it needed to be polished and coated in a bio-compatible layer by a different company.

Printer's press release: http://www.layerwise.com/en/news/layerwise-builds-the-world%...

Someone• 14 years ago

About that 'apparently': I guess they would take their time for any joint, but a jaw is special in two ways:

- it hinges at two points. As with doors, those must be t exactly the right distance of each other, or the thing simply will not fit, and be perfectly in line, or rotating the thing will cause huge forces on those hinges. I guess these could easily break of the new jaw or, worse, parts of the upper jaw.

- it must close perfectly flat; you do not want to have only a few teeth touch when it is maximally closed.

tomjen3• 14 years ago

Pretty cool. I am looking forward to when we can print an new spine and other major bones.

xenophanes• 14 years ago

Neat. What material is it made out of?

ot• 14 years ago

Titanium.

Reminded me of this website where you can send a 3D drawing and get it printed in titanium (among other materials):

http://i.materialise.com/materials/titanium

MSexton• 14 years ago

The University's press release: http://www.uhasselt.be/UH/Tijdschriften/ToonPersmededeling.h...

tuacker• 14 years ago

Just watched this TED talk today[1] and mentioned to a friend that 3D printing is going to be "really, really cool". While the video probably won't show anything new for your average hacker here it might be a good introduction for people around you.

Creating a lower jaw within a few hours is "really, really cool".

[1] http://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_harouni_a_primer_on_3d_printin...

benologist• 14 years ago

Pointless summary of http://www.3ders.org/articles/20120203-83-year-old-woman-got...

agumonkey• 14 years ago

and there's even a youtube 'animated slides':

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP1jUABA6A4&feature=youtu.be

(skynet will be their main customers)

kudos to the whole team(s)

83 year-old woman got 3D printed mandible

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