A dental restoration apparatus that eliminates time-consuming, labor-intensive steps conventionally needed to fabricate molds, and thereby facilitates dental restorations in a shorter time, while reducing the discomfort and embarrassment sometimes associated with provisional restorations, which includes an additive manufacturing apparatus (e.g., a 3-D printer) having a tool head (e.g., a print head) and a fixture for controlling the position of the tool head relative to the teeth of a patient, allowing fabrication of a planned dental structure directly on an existing dental structure.

Artificial ovaries comprising porous three-dimensional scaffolds are provided. Also provided are ink compositions and methods for printing the scaffolds. The artificial ovaries have spatial arrangements and cellular compositions that allow them to mimic native ovarian tissue. As such, they can be cultured or transplanted to support female endocrine function and/or the development of oocytes and/or eggs.

A system and method for printing cells in a medium. A multi-dimensional printer, stably constructed of low-mass parts, can include a computer numerically controlled system that can enable motors driving delivery systems. The motors can include encoders that can enable achieving arbitrary resolution. The motors can drive ballscrews to enable linear motion of delivery systems, and the delivery systems can enable printing of a biological material in a pre-selected pattern in a petri dish. The petri dish can accommodate a medium such as a gel, and can further accommodate a vision system that can detect actual position and deflection of the delivery system needle. The printer can accommodate multiple delivery systems and therefore multiple needles of various sizes.

Methods for fabricating attachment placement appliances are provided. In some embodiments, a method includes directly fabricating an attachment placement appliance body including a support formed in a tooth-receiving cavity configured to receive a tooth. The method can include directly fabricating one or more coupling structures connected to the support, and directly fabricating an aligner attachment connected to the one or more coupling structures. The attachment placement appliance body can be configured to align the aligner attachment to a predetermined location on the tooth. The aligner attachment can be shaped to engage with an attachment well of a shell aligner and exert one or more forces on the tooth when the aligner attachment is coupled to the attachment well. The one or more coupling structures can be configured to release the aligner attachment with removal of the attachment placement appliance body from the tooth.

An example method for producing a prosthetic device for a patient includes obtaining imaging data corresponding to a body part of a patient, generating an object model corresponding to the body part based on the imaging data, generating a prosthesis model based on the object model, generating a set of instructions based on the prosthesis model, and executing the set of instructions using a three-dimensional printer, where the set of instructions, when executed by the three-dimensional printer, cause the three-dimensional printer to produce the prosthetic device for the patient.

A method of making a prosthetic liner for use with a prosthetic assembly that acts as the interface between the residual limb of an amputee and the socket assembly. The prosthetic liner comprises an open proximal end, a closed distal end, and sidewalls comprising an inner layer of molded thermoplastic gel. A thermoplastic material is molded over a mandrel that has been sandblasted using #36 grit and, optionally, #320 grit at 100 psi so as to form microcraters and reduce the coefficient of static friction. The liner further includes a sweat port incorporated into the distal end with a one-way valve for the elimination of perspiration.

A surgical implant (10) comprises an areal, flexible, porous basic structure (12) having a first face and a second face. At least one resorbable dyed film piece (20) is attached to the basic structure (12) and comprises a plurality of solid protrusions emerging from the dyed film piece (20) in a direction away from the basic structure (12). The at least one dyed film piece (20) is arranged in a shape structure which is asymmetric (“E”) in the area of the basic structure (12). Optionally, the implant (10) further comprises an adhesion barrier sheet (16).

A dental appliance made of an olefin polymer is directly formed via rapid prototyping without the use of an intermediary physical mold. A polymer precursor solution includes one or more olefin-containing monomers and/or oligomers, an olefin polymerization catalyst, and a UV absorbing agent to limit penetration of the UV light through the polymer precursor solution. One or more reactions of the polymer precursor solution are modulated in response to UV light, and the polymer precursor solution may further include an inhibitor (quenching agent) configured to modulate those reactions. The polymer precursor solution can be deposited using UV-cured stereolithographic or 3D printing methods to form appliances exhibiting improved elongation at break characteristics and suitable stress resistance.

A method for preparing a conductive biomimetic skin scaffold material with self-repairing function includes the following steps: adding 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride to a homogeneous dispersion of acidified carbon nanotubes, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), and gelatin to cross-link to obtain a conductive composite colloid; and injecting the conductive composite colloid into a mold, aging at −4-4° C. for 12-24 hours, and then soaking in a phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution with a pH of 7.0-7.4 for 12-24 hours to obtain the conductive biomimetic skin scaffold material.

A printable composition for the manufacture of cell-receiving scaffolds comprising about 0.3 wt % to about 3.0 wt % of one or more collagens; about 5.0 wt % to about 40.0 wt % of one or more monomers; about 0.5 wt % to about 2.0 wt % of a photo initiator; and 0 wt % to about 75 wt % of a vehicle comprising a protic solvent, by weight of the printable composition; wherein the printable composition has a resolution of about 100 microns or less when printed, a photo speed (Dp/Ec) of about 0.1-5 mm (Dp) and about 10-100 mJ/cm.sup.2 (Ec) when printed, and a green strength of at least about 5 kPa after drying. The present technology further includes methods of manufacturing a three-dimensional cell-receiving scaffold using the printable composition.