“Smiling student uses 3D
printer to make plastic braces on the cheap”
New Jersey
Institute of Technology design student
Amos Dudley has taken orthodontics into his own hands. These days it is very
expensive to straighten out your teeth. This student took the idea of Invisalign,
which retails up to $5,000. He decided to make his own because college students
don’t necessarily have that kind of money lying around. Even if they had braces
when they were younger their teeth could have moved. Dudley decided to make his own set of DIY plastic aligners. This first
step was to create an alginate mold of his teeth, which he then filled with
liquid Permastone. After tidying up imperfections in the casting with a razor
blade, Dudley then used a NextEngine 3D laser scanner to create a digital model
of his teeth. From here, he created animations where each of the crooked teeth
traveled into their desired positions. He then produced models for each of the
separate steps in his alignment, and then used a vacuum forming machine and
dental plastic to create his pathway to the perfect smile. After using a Dremel
and sanding drum to smooth out the edges of the aligners, Dudley put his DIY
dental devices to work.
Dudley has now been wearing the
aligners 24 hours a day for 16 weeks, only taking them out to eat.
"They're much more comfortable than braces, and fit my teeth quite
well," he writes on his blog. He says
they also work well as whitening trays and prevent teeth grinding throughout
the night. Judging by the before and after photos, the results are certainly
impressive. I’m sure cosmetic orthodontics won’t be too happy about this.
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