Additive manufacturing eases the aging process

A light-switch extender 3D-printed by a student at Michigan Tech.

The other day I posted an article to “The Additive Report” website about arthritis sufferers’ need for low-priced devices that help them perform simple, everyday tasks like teeth brushing.

As an arthritis sufferer, I’m challenged by things like opening jars and rising from low-slung chairs. (Don’t invite me to take a ride in your Corvette.)

The article discusses an engineering course at Michigan Technological University in which students designed and additively manufactured adaptive aids for arthritis sufferers. They 3D-printed a light switch extender, a device that actuates finger nail clippers, and a toothbrush holder ─ to name a few.

The instructor said retailers overcharge for such devices, adding, “Anyone who needs an adaptive aid for arthritis should be 3D printing it.”

Reading the article prompted an internet search for additional 3D-printed devices that could cure what ails me. Here’s three that I found:

Toe implant. Four decades of jogging on pavement led to my getting hammertoe surgery 18 months ago, with a second operation tentatively scheduled for 18 months up the road. (A hammertoe is a deformity in which a toe’s middle joint arcs upward.)

Additive Orthopaedics offers 3D-printed, Grade 23 titanium hammertoe implants. Like the firm’s other products, it can be customized for individual patients.

“These structures are only possible through the use of advanced additive manufacturing,” the Little Silver, N.J., company said.

The toe bone’s connected to the knee bone… Farther down the road than my next hammertoe operation is knee surgery ─ also a result of too much pavement pounding.

Conformis, Billerica, Mass., designs and builds customized knees using 3D imaging and 3D printing technologies. It additively manufactures the custom wax molds used to cast the metal implants.

Additive Orthopaedics offers hammertoe implants.

A custom implant tends to be thinner than off-the-shelf ones, said the company, and minimizes the amount of bone that must be removed.

Conformis also prints customized surgical instruments for each implant. The CT-scan data used to design each implant is utilized to design a set of single-use instruments that match the patient’s anatomy.

Receding gums. Why do our gums recede as we age? I don’t know either. But I don’t like it. And I really didn’t like getting a gingival graft. The periodontist removed a patch of skin from the roof of my mouth and sutured it to my lower gum.

It hurt.

Hopefully the gum graft doesn’t portend that one day I’ll need dentures. But if it does, at least I’ll find some small comfort in the fact I can wear 3D-printed ones.

Printed dentures have been around for a few years. Researchers at the University at Buffalo (N.Y.) are working to improve the technology.

According to a report the university issued in April, nearly two-thirds of the U.S. denture-wearing population suffers from frequent fungal infections that cause inflammation, redness, and swelling.

To better treat these infections, UB researchers are 3D printing dentures filled with microscopic capsules that periodically release an antifungal medication.“The major impact of this innovative 3D printing system is its potential impact on saving cost and time,” said Praveen Arany, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor in the UB School of Dental Medicine.

Future research aims to reinforce the mechanical strength of 3D-printed dentures with glass fibers and carbon nanotubes, and focus on optimizing fit. (Click here to read the full report.)

Unfortunately, additive manufacturing can’t halt the aging process. But maybe it can slow the process enough to make the trip more enjoyable.

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