3D printing has applications beyond creating small plastic trinkets. It is being used to create customized prosthetics and has potential applications in medicine like printing drugs, bones, and eventually full organs. Researchers are working on 3D printers that could print drugs at a molecular level, print bone scaffolds to help regenerate bone, and print organs which could transform how the healthcare system manages donors and waitlists. 3D printing technology is rapidly advancing and may eventually allow doctors to print full organs for patients within hours instead of months or years.

1. The Miracle of
3-D
Printing

2. When most people hear the
term ‘3D printing’, they
probably associate it with
some small desktop
machine that creates tiny
trinkets from recycled
plastic.

3. While there is a side to 3D
printing that is reflected
by such an image, the
industry as a whole is
much more comprehensive
and much more innovative.

4. Those desktop trinket factories
are merely the first phase in the
progression of personal 3D
printing technology, but more
advanced techniques and
materials are already being
used at higher scales.

5. 3D printing has the
potential to help many
different people with a
whole plethora of utilities,
and many of those uses
probably haven’t even
been imagined yet.

6. Medicine is one of the fields
that 3D printing will
eventually revolutionize.
The process has already
started if you know where
to look.

7. One of the first medical
fields to adopt 3D printing
was prosthetics, and those
devices are still being
improved upon thanks to
advances in 3D printing.

8. Prosthetics made via this
technology are much more
customizable, and they can
be easily fitted to the
individual patient.

9. In 2015, a young boy named
Alex received a 3D-printed
Iron Man themed
prosthetic arm presented
to him by Robert Downey
Jr. himself.

10. Eventually, it may get to
the point where robotic
prosthetics are the norm
thanks to 3D printing, and
prosthetics might become a
sought-after upgrade to
standard human biology.

11. There are so many
potential applications for
3D printing in medicine
that it is nearly staggering
to consider.

12. Some researchers are
actually working on a 3D
printer for creating drugs
at the molecular level.

13. If this catches on, it may be
possible for future patients
to purchase a personal
drug printer instead of
having to go to a pharmacy
to receive their
prescriptions.

14. In those cases, the patient
would simply have a batch of
chemical ingredients that can
be built into different drugs,
and the prescription would
constitute the digital blueprints
necessary to print the effective
drug.

15. Some scientists are working
toward printing bones to
replace broken or deteriorated
pieces. The printed bones at this
stage are actually scaffolds that
your body will use as a template
for rebuilding a natural bone.

16. The printed bone is dissolved by
the body and absorbed since it is
made of biologically inert
material. This could eventually
replace many bone therapies,
especially for aging patients
who might have difficulty
healing from breaks.

17. Perhaps the most interesting
potential from 3D printing is
the idea that future doctors will
be able to print full organs. The
ability to create legitimate
organs will completely change
how the medical system deals
with donors and waiting lists.

18. There are already examples of
3D-printed organs made from
existing cartilage striped of all
other organic material and
printed with existing biological
material to effectively create a
new organ.

19. This isn’t technically a process
that is based solely on 3D
printing, but within 10 years
scientists will be able to
generate completely artificial
organs through the printing of
new organic cells at the
molecular level.

20. This could cut the wait time for
a new organ down from months
or years to days or even hours.