Braces cost a ludicrous amount of money and let’s be real, not everyone is fortunate enough to afford that. Don’t even mention Invisaligns! Having said that, you may now be able to follow this guy’s footsteps and print your own braces.
Amos Dudley is a digital design major at New Jersey Institute of Technology who has been straightening his top row of teeth for the past 16 weeks using clear braces he made himself via a 3D printer.
His self-designed treatment comprised twelve teeth straightening trays and when he was interviewed by CNN, Dudley said, “I’m still wearing the last one.”
Dudley mentioned that he had braces while he was growing up and didn’t wear his retainers as much as he was instructed to, so his teeth shifted. Over time, he wasn’t happy with his teeth and wasn’t smiling as much.
The 24-year-old wanted to save money, so he made his braces for less than US$60. He only had to pay for materials used to make the model of his teeth and the retainers. Then, he printed the braces at school. He scanned and printed models of his teeth, then moulded non-toxic plastic around them to form his clear braces.
He has no interest in orthodontics, but he calculated how far he needed to move his teeth to correct them and determined the recommended tooth distance and design for each alignment tray.
Clearly, 3D printers are the next big thing and instead of purchasing something expensive, perhaps you could print them. Dudley has already received requests to print braces for other people, but he doesn’t want to. He says he doesn’t want to make a business out of it.
If he doesn’t want to earn money from it, we’re pretty sure someone else will. Just you wait and see!
[Source]
