3D Printing DentaltownUK editor Mike Gow talks with Raj Nath about 3D printing Mike Gow: Thanks for speaking with me about 3D printing in dentistry Raj. Can you give us a quick introduction to 3D printing and how widely they are currently used in various applications? Raj Nath: 3D printing is getting more and more popular and 3D printers are getting more and more affordable. Schools have them, artists have them, sculptors have them, designers have them and in many other disciplines 3D printing and rapid prototyping is used on a daily basis. Medical 3D printing has been in use in mainstream medicine and surgery for years. Prosthetic limbs are 3D printed. There is even a crowd funding prosthetic limb project where people with home 3D printers are printing parts for the limbs. Mike Gow: What are the main 3D printing technologies? Raj Nath: The most common 3D printing technologies available are 1) FDM - Fused Deposition Modelling 2) SLA- Stereolithography 3) SLS - Selective Laser Sintering There are other technologies available but to go into them is not within the scope of this article. Mike Gow: Is 3D printing expensive? Raj Nath: You can get a 3D printer with reasonable resolution for less than £500 which can do most daily tasks in a dental practice like study models, patient demonstration models etc. Raj Nath 36 APRIL 2017 // dentaltownuk.com Fig. 1 Mike Gow: Is it time consuming? Raj Nath:In my experience, you can actually train your nurses and support personnel. They will be delighted to be trained in and use this technology. Also, most 3D printing is automated meaning that you can set it and go do your daily work and it will be finished by the time you come back. Mike Gow: What could our readers actually use a 3D printer for in their dental practice? Raj Nath: Some of you are actually already using 3D printing technology in your daily practice possibly without even being aware of it! Many of the parts of your dental chair are rapidly prototyped before mass manufacture. Some might be using implant surgical guides to aid the planning and placement of implants in tricky cases. An experienced implant surgeon might question whether guides are always needed? After all s/he may have been placing implants without any guides for 20 years. However what about the less experienced surgeons? If there is an aid available in allowing them to predictably and accurately place implants safely in a patient should they not use it? The surgical guide planned usinghttp://www.dentaltownuk.com