3D printing in the medical industry

3D printing has a huge potential to better this world and it has already been used so much. It
benefits many areas of expertise and the one area which I will be taking about right now is
the medical industry. 3D printing is revolutionizing the medical industry and here is how.
In the world of today many people have serious health issues that can be helped through 3D
printing. Looking at different examples from loss of limbs to even hearth problems. Of
course, it cannot fix every health issue but it an do a whole bunch.
Prosthetics:
For starters let’s look at probably the most known benefit of 3D printing in the medical
industry. 3D printed prosthetics. Many people can lose limbs or even be born without them in
their lives and 3D printing helps with that. Not only with people but with animals too 3D
printed prosthetics can make up arms and legs and really most body parts to support set
person/animal with their life. Many people have even been given the opportunity to walk
again because of these. It is also not too expensive to make meaning most people can get
them.

Drugs:
Now let’s go into something that is very little known. 3D printing can now play part in drugs.
Yes, that’s right I said it. Creating drugs for medicine. According to 23D printing Industry”
Lee Cronin, a chemist at the university of Glasgow say’s that 3D printing is the way of the
future for customers to buy drugs from home. Customers can buy blueprints of set drugs and
print these drugs at home. I know what you must be thinking. How could a 3D printer do
that? Wouldn’t it be plastic? Well, no you see these are special made 3D printers that will be
able to assemble drugs at a molecular level. All that will be need will be the medical blueprint
and chemical ink and customers will be able to print their medicine from home.

Education:
People studying medicine need to practice somehow right? Especially doctors and nurses.
According to “Leapfrog 3D printers” 3D printing is great for this because with the use of 3D
printing, we can create artificial body parts like bones and different organs. This helps teach
the future doctors and nurses of today and allows them to practice before anything serious
too.
Dental:
In the dental industry 3D printing has been growing rapidly and is starting to improve and
save time for many products like dentures and even braces. According to: “sculpteo.com”3D
printing is now allowing to get dental implants a lot easier for both the dentist and the
customer. Many more products can be made for the dental industry like 3D printed aligners,
braces with LED lights (this light can actually help the teeth move faster), 3D printed crowns
and many more. Many new products are being designed to improve the dental industry as
time goes by.

Organs:
Some of you may say that this could be included in the prosthetics part, but it is slightly
different. According to: “3dprintingindustry.com” that recently 3d printed liver cells have
been created that are functional for more than 40 days. This leads scientists to believe that
within a decade we will be able to print functional organs such as livers, hearts, kidneys, etc.
This could save multiple lives and could help so much with surgery.
 References
Leapfrog.com () 3D Printing: How can it improve the medical industry?, Available
at: https://www.lpfrg.com/blog/3d-printing-in-the-medical-industry/#:~:text=%205%20Benefits%20of%203D
%20printing%20in%20the,afford%20to%20buy%20a%20prosthetic.%20Low-cost...%20More (Accessed:
27th of March 2021).

Sculpteo.com () Medical 3D Printing: How 3D printing is saving lives, Available

at: https://www.sculpteo.com/en/3d-learning-hub/applications-of-3d-printing/medical-3d-printing/ (Accessed:
27th of March 2021).

Michael Molitch-Hou () 12 Things We Can 3D Print in Medicine Right Now,  Available
at: https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/12-things-we-can-3d-print-in-medicine-right-now-42867/ (Accessed:
27th March 2021).