I made my own clear plastic tooth aligners and they worked

This is something that's in your mouth a lot and constantly exposed to saliva.

The Dimension 1200es mentioned doesn't appear to be specific to medical applications.[0] The product page lists the only compatible thermoplastic being ABSplus-P430. The MSDS for that basically says the stuff is dangerous in molten form, and beyond that there's very little data.[1] The same company makes "Dental and Bio-Compatible" materials for use with their other products, and these appear to have considerably more safety data.[2]

>The aligner steps have been printed, in addition to a “riser” that I added in order to make sure the vacuum forming plastic (sourced from ebay) ...

As another commenter pointed out, the vacuum forming plastic is probably the primary concern because the 3D printer was just used to create the molds. The specific type of vacuum plastic isn't mentioned.

Regardless, very neat project.

[0] http://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers/design-series/dimension...

[1] http://www.stratasys.com/~/media/Main/Files/SDS/P430_ABS_M30...

[2] http://www.stratasys.com/materials/material-safety-data-shee...

The animation definitely seems the most difficult (and subjective), but also the most cool! Body hacking via computed geometry!

Invisalign (align technology) uses almost the same workflow. Market cap $5.89B.

If you could move the workflow over to something based on WebGL / three.js - you could make this accessible to dentists in developing countries. Could be an awesome open source project.

I think "allowing" it to be used in the US would open yourself up to too much liability though :(

I'm going to send this to my dentist (who's cool enough to appreciate it).

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedur...

Anti-vaxxers are idiots and it is obvious that vaccines don't cause autism (original study was a fraud). The health benefit of vaccines is as undeniable as the lack of correlation to autism.

That said, dental amalgum is a chunk of mercury in your mouth. FDA says it is safe for people over 6yrs old, but I personally will stay away from it for any future dental work.

Anyway, the future is promising and the issues could be solved taking into account all the factors.

My grandfather used to make dentures, and that casting in the 4th photo looks exactly like the impressions my GF would make. They also used these hinges so they could mate the upper to the lower, so they could adjust any collisions that occurred while opening and closing the mouth.

But on a serious note, I had braces, after the were remove a wire was placed behind my teeth to keep them in place. It didn't stick to one of my ceramic teeth I had from an accident in my youth. The wire was removed and after some months my front two teeth were as far apart as ever. Ok, the overbite didn't return but things will move back at least to some degree over time.

As mentioned before, I myself would never just put any plastic material in my mouth with all the bad things known about plasticisers, bpa/bps, etc.

Had two teeth done for under $500 10 years ago.

It's a stop gap until braces are an option financially.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overbite

There is not really much tech required. You can simply cut apart the gypsum model tooth by tooth and align it perfectly with wax and add space for you gum. Finally create a mold and use medical grade silicone to make the tooth straightener.

Silicone also allows for more movement and gives you control of upper and lower teeth in relation to each other.

While this is not rocket science there are considerations about jaw alignment that would be difficult for the amature to get right the first time around in any but simple misalignments.

Not sure what I would do if we didn't have a dental school.

When I go there I am always surprised to find people who actually have insurance who still go there despite all the hassle.

First, teeth and their movement is more complicated than it might first seem. You have to think about the entire masticatory apparatus, for example:

• There's more root than crown, how does the root move in relation to the tooth? Root resorption is a common problem in orthodontic treatment.

• Is there / will there be enough bone surrounding the tooth to support the intended movement?

• How will the patient's occlusion (how the teeth fit together) be affected? Part of the Invisalign process is to take a bite registration that shows the upper and lower teeth in relation to each other. This is important, and ignoring it can potentially lead to other complications:

- stress fractures

- supraeruption of opposite tooth

- TMJ pain

• Does the patient display any parafunctional habits that will affect the new tooth positions? For example, do they grind, clench, or have abnormal chewing patterns?

• Many Invisalign techniques require the placement of anchors, holds, and various other structures attached to the teeth themselves. They allow for more complex movement than the insert itself would be able to provide.

• Adjustments are often required mid-treatment. Not everybody’s anatomy and biology is exactly the same, so you have to adjust accordingly.

Now, does every general dentist take this into account 100% of the time? No, but they’re at least trained to recognize these situations and compensate for them.

That said, many simple patients don’t require any more thought than the OP put in. It’s a good thing he looked in a text book and realized that there’s a limit to how much you should try to move a tooth at each step before you’re likely to run into problems. And if you do run into problems — do you think a professional is going to come anywhere near your case?

A few issues I have with his technique:

• Unless he poured his stone model immediately after taking the impression, it’s likely there was a decent loss in accuracy. Alginate is very dimensionally precise, but only for about 30 minutes. The material that most dentists use, PVS, is dimensionally stable for much, much longer (not to mention digital “impressions”).

• Vertical resolution of the 3D print does matter. You might be moving teeth in only two dimensions, you’re applying it over three dimensions.

Again, I think it is awesome that someone gave this a shot, and did a fairly good job as well. I’m all for driving the cost of these types of treatments down, as well as promoting a more hacky/open approach to various treatments. Just know there’s more than meets the eye.

* I decided to go back to tech, there’s too little collaboration in dentistry for me to make a career out of it.

I guess this would work better with those with gaps or very mildly crowded teeth.

Often crowded teeth result in pulling teeth to make room.

He might be able to come up with a better or cheaper method then the currently industry standard though ...