By now, you’ve probably heard of bioprinting. While it may seem that most researchers are heavily embroiled in making everything from kidney tissue to blood vessels with the end result being the ability to 3D print organs and keep them viable, a new procedure in dentistry takes a different tact.
“These procedures are often associated with significant pain, nerve damage and postoperative swelling,” he said.
Ivanovski’s method should in concept offer improvement all around, including better affordability. And if his study meets with success, the idea would work as such: patients could have a CT scan taken of the region that is damaged. It would then be sent to a bioprinter, where a new part would be made. This is important in that patients could have all of this done in regional medical centers, avoiding trips into the city to a major hospital. For patients living in remote areas, this could be of great help.
“The cells, the extracellular matrix and other components that make up the bone and gum tissue are all included in the construct and can be manufactured to exactly fit the missing bone and gum for a particular individual,” Professor Ivanovski said.
“At the end of the whole process, you wouldn’t be able to identify what is old bone and new,” Professor Ivanovski said.
While this obviously follows the basics of bioprinting happening in many other labs as well, it offers an immediate solution to an immediate need—and would be the first type of such technology in Australia. Due to its potential in the dental industry, this is to be a three-year study and has been granted $650,000 from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Researchers hope to begin pre-clinical trials for the bioprinting dental procedures during the next year.
“By the end of the year we want to start implanting some of the constructs in some of the more straightforward processes,” Professor Ivanovski said.
Are you surprised to hear about bioprinting in dentistry? Let’s discuss in the 3D Printing & Dentistry forum over at 3DPB.com.