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How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

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Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How early on in life?

When they grow molars to chew with. Give them whole carrots to snack on.

To expand and agree: turnips, beets, hard whole grains, if their baby teeth aren't visibly worn by the time they fall out, it wasn't hard enough.

Jaw and face bone grows by stimulation. It's not just a dental thing - it's sleep apnea, sinus infections, facial structure, voice timbre, and attractiveness.

If it's enough, they won't even need their wisdom teeth pulled - having your wisdom teeth pulled is substantially a standard american diet issue, not a human genetic issue.

Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#112

1) Currently on invisign - mould 24 of 42 2) For 5k (Cdn) - I get 42 moulds, a method used to scan and submit my progress for each mould duration, feedback and advice from a dentist, a scan test to see who they fit 3) Considering the cost of braces and the flexibility these allow (as long as you are disciplined in wearing them) it's well worth it 4) My teeth were really misaligned. At 42 I just decided to do it so I…

Do you know what type of plastic they use? I have a 3D printer and I wouldn't want to put 3D printed stuff on my mouth. It's way too easy to end up with microplastics

It has been done before.. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-3d-print-plastic-brac...

I wouldn't recommend it, mainly incase you mess up the teeth pressure and end up with a far higher dentist bill.

Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#113
My 2 kids had those and it is amazing compared to traditional way, pulling healthy teeth, wearing braces which are brutal to your teeth.

It should be illegal to pull kids teeth when this tech exists. Dentists were angry about this but it is superior in every way. I think costs will come down, but they are already cheaper then alternatives.

I am happy my wife researched and discovered Invisalign.

One required much more alignment, I don't remember but it was 20+ weeks, other was done in 16 weeks. Now they have retainers and that is it.

Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#114
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just be prepared near the end for refinements. When I did mine, I had to do another 6 months of refinements near the end to help get the locking of my bite grip to be where it needs to be. I was otherwise expecting that day to be when I’d be done, and later learned refinements are a fairly common occurrence when going through Invisalign. As the sibling comment, it’s definitely worth it. Best of luck!

This isn’t the case with 3D printed bracket systems. Studies have shown that the 3D personalized bracket system from LightForce will cut down treatment time over 40%. The refinement phase is also spot on and finishes much faster, and recent studies have shown further improvements. Also, the more complex the case, the larger the delta on the performance. Not all orthos are practicing this way but this is where the fut…

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Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#115
post #28

Tangential, but I have sleep apnea. Fortunately I have it mild enough to get away with a mouthpiece instead of a CPAP (which is good anyway because I also have bruxism). The mouthpiece works great and I would recommend everyone get tested for sleep apnea if your insurance covers it, but I have to admit that paying for it bothered me. Even with insurance covering some of it, it cost me about $600. I know that there's…

I’ve tried custom molded mouthpieces for grinding but couldn’t adjust to sleep with them. I notice them and feel the discomfort of it not feeling natural despite it being a pricey professionally manufactured piece. It just feels too artificial. I also wonder about the long term effects of polymers in the mouth for long periods of time daily.

Every mouthpiece I got tasted awful, made me drool all night, and within days my apparently mega jaw would just grind right through them

Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When they grow molars to chew with. Give them whole carrots to snack on.

To expand and agree: turnips, beets, hard whole grains, if their baby teeth aren't visibly worn by the time they fall out, it wasn't hard enough. Jaw and face bone grows by stimulation. It's not just a dental thing - it's sleep apnea, sinus infections, facial structure, voice timbre, and attractiveness. If it's enough, they won't even need their wisdom teeth pulled - having your wisdom teeth pulled is substantially a…

Thanks, and 100% agree. We have never had to pull a wisdom tooth either and carrots were always the go-to roadtrip snack growing up.

Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To expand and agree: turnips, beets, hard whole grains, if their baby teeth aren't visibly worn by the time they fall out, it wasn't hard enough. Jaw and face bone grows by stimulation. It's not just a dental thing - it's sleep apnea, sinus infections, facial structure, voice timbre, and attractiveness. If it's enough, they won't even need their wisdom teeth pulled - having your wisdom teeth pulled is substantially a…

Thanks, and 100% agree. We have never had to pull a wisdom tooth either and carrots were always the go-to roadtrip snack growing up.

It's funny because I mildly disagree with your core premise (orthodontics are unnecessary), they should just be necessary as a disability accommodation, essentially. If we had 10-30% of the population in wheelchairs because we didn't let kids walk I would find the wheelchair industry odious as well.

Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#118

1) Currently on invisign - mould 24 of 42 2) For 5k (Cdn) - I get 42 moulds, a method used to scan and submit my progress for each mould duration, feedback and advice from a dentist, a scan test to see who they fit 3) Considering the cost of braces and the flexibility these allow (as long as you are disciplined in wearing them) it's well worth it 4) My teeth were really misaligned. At 42 I just decided to do it so I…

I had really bad teeth as a kid, so had braces. Periodically I'd have to go in to get them tightened, and remember the worst whole head pain for a day. Just curious is switching Invisalign molds is a similar process?

Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#119

1) Currently on invisign - mould 24 of 42 2) For 5k (Cdn) - I get 42 moulds, a method used to scan and submit my progress for each mould duration, feedback and advice from a dentist, a scan test to see who they fit 3) Considering the cost of braces and the flexibility these allow (as long as you are disciplined in wearing them) it's well worth it 4) My teeth were really misaligned. At 42 I just decided to do it so I…

Do you know what type of plastic they use? I have a 3D printer and I wouldn't want to put 3D printed stuff on my mouth. It's way too easy to end up with microplastics

I think you'd end up with more plastic from just breathing in air and eating seafood than Invisalign, but I haven't done a study on that.

Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers

#120

1) Currently on invisign - mould 24 of 42 2) For 5k (Cdn) - I get 42 moulds, a method used to scan and submit my progress for each mould duration, feedback and advice from a dentist, a scan test to see who they fit 3) Considering the cost of braces and the flexibility these allow (as long as you are disciplined in wearing them) it's well worth it 4) My teeth were really misaligned. At 42 I just decided to do it so I…

Do you know what type of plastic they use? I have a 3D printer and I wouldn't want to put 3D printed stuff on my mouth. It's way too easy to end up with microplastics

The article says the braces are 2 layers. The inner one is polyester and the outer one is polyurethane. They also don't currently 3d print the braces themselves but instead thermo form them on top of 3d printed molds.
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