Most teeth align themselves as kids age. This is almost never necessary.
Ok, sure, it's usually cosmetic. So what?
How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
31–40 of 135 posts
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#32Tangential, 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…
> All the same, I sleep like 10x better, so I suppose that considering that $600 is a cheap price to pay.
First time?
Price is not determined by cost to produce.
It’s determined by the price a customer is willing to pay.
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#33Most teeth align themselves as kids age. This is almost never necessary.
Depends on diet. If you keep them on soft food young, the jaw muscles don't get stimulated enough to grow so that the teeth that are coming out sit properly. Misalignment and opportunity for decay ensues. If you give them decently hard food early on in life you solve most problems. After that it can still happen but there's less chance.
How early on in life?
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#34Tangential, 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 know that there's a deceptively high amount of engineering required for these kinds of things
I think there's a deceptively low amount of engineering required for most medical and medical-adjacent tech. The high costs are rooted in pervasive industry-wide centuries-long FUD campaigns.
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#35Tangential, 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…
> All the same, I sleep like 10x better, so I suppose that considering that $600 is a cheap price to pay. First time? Price is not determined by cost to produce. It’s determined by the price a customer is willing to pay.
I suspect the introduction of the infinite-money pits of insurance doesn't help either.
Since I do have the 3D scan of my teeth, I've debated designing my own, but I'm not sure which resins to buy that I could safely put in my mouth every night.
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#36So shouldn't this really be something that could be opened sourced. I think I've seen a few write ups of people that did their own, but seems like a highly functional implementation could be democratized.
Orthodontics is simply “making a retainer” the same way orthopedics is simply “putting screws in a leg”. The difficult part is not the manufacturing, but knowing how to do it properly so you don’t harm the patient.
As the joke goes, $10 to tighten the bolt, $90 to know which bolt to tighten.
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#37Tangential, 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…
> All the same, I sleep like 10x better, so I suppose that considering that $600 is a cheap price to pay. First time? Price is not determined by cost to produce. It’s determined by the price a customer is willing to pay.
An important corollary to this rule is that that customer need not be you.
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#38Tangential, 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…
> All the same, I sleep like 10x better, so I suppose that considering that $600 is a cheap price to pay. First time? Price is not determined by cost to produce. It’s determined by the price a customer is willing to pay.
Every company operating on that basis is a busniess waiting to be disrupted by a cost-plus competitor.
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#39Most teeth align themselves as kids age. This is almost never necessary.
Depends on diet. If you keep them on soft food young, the jaw muscles don't get stimulated enough to grow so that the teeth that are coming out sit properly. Misalignment and opportunity for decay ensues. If you give them decently hard food early on in life you solve most problems. After that it can still happen but there's less chance.
Also, breastfeeding and not weaning them off on to "baby foods" too soon is better in the same ways you describe.
Re: How Invisalign became the biggest user of 3D printers
#40Tangential, 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…
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