Bones
(2016, Skull Bone Printing, Star White, 27th October 2016 <http://www.starwhite.ch/images/3dprint.jpg>)
Inevitably, it is likely that people may get injured and possible damage the bones in their body which can often result in life-long injuries. Finally, through the use of 3D printing, this is no longer an issue. According to Australian Academy Of Science, every year, more than 2.2 million people worldwide, require bone-graft procedures to repair bone defects. In the past, synthetic cement based materials were used and mixed with a little bit of the individuals bone to fill in any gaps in the properties, to create bone grafts that we use today. Because these materials are limited, the creation of bone tissue is not as predominant as it is needed. This issue has caused us to think outside-of-the-box and study into other methods, which has led us to 3D printing to be the most efficient option yet. This has been studied by a Swansea University and they have manipulated this technique over time, which has resulted in them creating an artificial bone matrix which is an identical shape to the bone needed. This is done by using a biocompatible material which is extremely strong . After this process is completed the new bone is transferred in the human body required. After many months the printed bone will mesh with the original one and hopefully come back to its original state. (Nova, 2016)
Skin
(2016, Skin Transplant, 3D Printing Industry, 27th October 2016, <https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/12-things-we-can-3d-print-in-medicine-right-now-42867/>)
Furthermore, skin is also a major development in the use of 3D printing. In past times when someone would have a severe burn, doctors would replace the affected area, with a patch of skin from another part of the human body. This cause of action, made the situation extremely difficult for doctors, though, because when the majority of the skin on the person body was severely burnt, there would not have been enough to replace it. But finally there has been a breakthrough in science and we have the technology to use bioprinting using a 3D printer, to produce our very own skin. To print the skin a machine will be used to scan the skin and its depth and width because deeper the burn is different cells have to be used. After the scanner has taken in this information the 3D printer will repeatedly go over your burn in a back and forward motion, to replace the affected area od skin with a new one (Wake Forest School Of Medicine, 2016).
Lastly, one big leap that we have had in this huge 3D printing journey, is that we are able to print our very own prosthetics. To make a prosthetic an MRI or a CT scan is layered to build a three-dimensional image of the area that it being printed, in cases where full limbs are missing the opposite or another person, would be scanned so that a replica is made by using metallic and plastic engineering. This can be shown in a story about a four-year-old boy, Anthony, that was born without half of his left arm. Anthony was living his life with the help of basic hospital care in Chile. He used a basic hook on his left hand to try and do normal activities like other kids. Until this year in 2016 when his parents were trying to help their son to a better life, when the charity enablingthefuture.org or also known as ENABLE communities volunteers agreed to create the device for the young child. They did this for Anthony as a Christmas gift, which they told the family just before Christmas and they said: "The happiness and gratitude expressed by the family…it was the perfect Christmas gift!” (Enabling The Future, 2016).
(2016, A Volunteer and Anthony, Enabling The Future, 26/10/16 <http://enablingthefuture.org/2016/04/30/e-nabling-chile-w-spiderman-style/>)