Unlike traditional methods, in which products are created by shaping raw material into a final form through carving, grinding, or molding, 3D printing is an additive manufacturing technique that creates three-dimensional objects by building successive layers of raw material such as metals, plastics, and ceramics.
What is 3D printing and how is it used in health care? This issue brief explains how medical 3D printing is used in health care, how FDA regulates the products that are made, and what regulatory questions the agency faces. At the same time, its potential to change the manufacturing of medical products-particularly high-risk devices such as implants-could affect patient safety, creating new challenges for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight. In both instances, the doctors can use 3D printing to make products that specifically match a patient’s anatomy.Īnd the technology is not limited to planning surgeries or producing customized dental restorations such as crowns 3D printing has enabled the production of customized prosthetic limbs, cranial implants, or orthopedic implants such as hips and knees. A radiologist, for instance, might create an exact replica of a patient’s spine to help plan a surgery a dentist could scan a broken tooth to make a crown that fits precisely into the patient’s mouth. Advances in 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, are capturing attention in the health care field because of their potential to improve treatment for certain medical conditions.
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