ABSTRACT
In the medical sector applications of rapid manufacturing are fast-expanding and have shown greater advantages over the conventional techniques. The main advantages of rapid manufacturing techniques in the medical sector are; the compatibility of these techniques with the output data of medical image processing techniques and the ability of fabricating geometrically complex customised/personalised medical parts, devices and products. There are a number of examples of applications of rapid manufacturing in the medical sector in the fabrication of medical devices, aids and implants Some examples are ear prosthesis, in-the-ear hearing aid, lower limb prosthesis, dental devices and dental implants (L. Ciocca, & R. Scotti, 2004, Hieu et al, 2005, Dalgarno et al, 2006). However, commercial scale applications of rapid manufacturing in the medical sector have recently appeared in the manufacturing scenario for provision of customised medical devices and products. Currently there are two industrial examples, one of which is fabrication of customised in-theear hearing aid devices by Siemens (www.hearing. siemens.com) and by Phonak (www.phonak.com). Siemens is using selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereolithography apparatus (SLA) and Phonak is using selective laser sintering (SLS) technique
for the fabrication of customised in-the-ear hearing aids. The second commercial example is Align technologies Incorporation; offering customised dental braces (www.invisalign.com). Align technologies are fabricating series of dental braces which are used for the alignment of teeth. The alignment is achieved through changing the series of dental braces until the required alignment for the teeth is achieved. These dental braces improve cosmetic dental appearance. Invisalign use stereolithography to fabricate the dental braces.
