The Third Dimension: 3D Printing in Medical Science

Abstract

3D printing, now a days is used worldwide. Number of manufacturing technologies that generate a physical model from digital information is referred to as 3D printing. It is one of the rapid growing technologies in recent years and is becoming a greatest revolutionary tool in medical science. 3D printing was first used for medical purpose as dental implant and custom prosthetics in 1990s. It is now used in tissue engineering; and it also repairs tissue defect in situ cell. In these recent years, it is adopted by many health cares, academia and industries. When there is a shortage of donor during organ transplantation, potential risk form many traditionally methods such as operations, surgeries or any secondary injuries; 3D printing can help in solving these limitations and minimizes the risk. Many scientists were able to grow organs from patient’s cells and used a 3D printed scaffold to support them. The areas of application are also quite broad, extending past general medical practice and research and include surgical preparation, prostheses, dental, 3D printing of tissues and organs, manufacturing of medical tools and devices. 3D printed implantable organ will be available which will reduce the waiting list and many lives will be saved in future. One of the many types of 3D printing in the medical device field is bio printing in which rather than using plastics and metals bioprinters, use a computer guided pipette to layer living cells referred to as bio-ink, on top of one another to create artificial living tissue in laboratory. 3D printing mainly allows fabrication with high productivity in a cost-effective manner.