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A comment on 83 year-old woman got 3D printed mandible. Parent comment

Re:83 year-old woman got 3D printed mandible by Luc on Sunday February 05, 2012 @08:51AM (#3554030)
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%...

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Re:83 year-old woman got 3D printed mandible by Someone on Sunday February 05, 2012 @08:31PM (#3555856)
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.

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