{"id":987,"date":"2015-04-19T09:31:09","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T15:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vegetatingwithleslie.org\/?p=987"},"modified":"2017-04-20T14:29:06","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T20:29:06","slug":"3d-printing-helps-seniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vegetatingwithleslie.org\/?p=987","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing Helps Seniors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published 4\/16\/2015 in 3duniverse.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"3D<\/a>
3D printed soft food delivers appetizing nutrition to seniors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3D printing enhances quality of life for seniors<\/h2>\n

DENTISTRY<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’ve all heard them, those jokes about getting older: “You know you’re old when you and your teeth don’t sleep together.” It’s a humorous accommodation to the fact that one of the unfortunate features of aging is that bodily structures and systems deteriorate at a more rapid rate.<\/p>\n

As anyone knows who has needed a dental implant or dental prosthetics, they are costly, as in the thousands. Medicare doesn’t cover this particular expense nor do most insurers, even dental insurers. In addition, there is usually an uncomfortable waiting period between tooth removal and implantation or development of a dental prosthesis.<\/p>\n

That set of facts makes it exciting news that 3D printing<\/strong> is taking off in the dental industry<\/strong>. This development isn’t futuristic: it’s happening now. While at the moment, 3D print technology<\/strong> is focused on reducing the cost and increasing the accuracy of dental surgery through lifelike modeling<\/strong>, 3D printing implants<\/strong> and dental prostheses<\/strong> isn’t far behind.<\/p>\n

Says Andrew Wheeler<\/strong><\/a>, a 3D<\/strong> print journalist of Stratasys Objet260 Dental Selection 3D Printer<\/strong><\/a>, showcased at the International Dental Show in Germany just last month, March 2015: “I think it\u2019s pretty nice that we are coming to an age where you can have a crown replaced almost immediately after having it scanned with an intra-oral scanner, have the data processed on 3D software<\/strong>, and then have the replacement 3D printed out<\/strong> for you while you comfortably relax with your pin-pricked gums, numbed out face, blinding light, and crappy TV or music.”<\/p>\n

SKELETAL IMPLANTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than 50% of women in the U.S. suffer from osteoporosis and more than 25% of men. Hip fracture is a serious and costly public health problem in this country and internationally. Fragility fractures as a function of osteoporosis are associated with an approximately doubled risk of death in the year following the fracture. The annual cost of osteoporotic fractures to the US healthcare system in 2001 was approximately US$17 billion.<\/p>\n

3D printing<\/strong> offers life-saving solutions as implants<\/strong> into the skeletal system. Two particularly impressive stories are these, one a hip implant<\/strong>, the other an arm-saving shoulder implant<\/strong>. 3D printed knee replacements<\/strong> have been used with good success. Particularly exciting are the stories of 3D printed\u00a0implant processes completed with stem cells<\/strong>.<\/p>\n