Healthcare 3D Printing Industry to Gain Widespread Acclaim via Technology Deployment in the Prosthetics Segment

A revolutionary concept currently standing on the precipice of fame and fortune, 3D printing in healthcare market has unquestionably given rise to a plethora of documented successes, once considered miracles, and invariably, has also paved the way for a debatable set of questions, primarily concerning large-scale deployment of the technology in the medical sector. Healthcare 3D printing market, according to some analysts, has already gone mainstream, however, many others claim that this fraternity is yet to be commercially, legally, and ethically available for the masses. The former speculation by the proponents may be based on the fact that 3D printing has already been used for manufacturing dental implants, dental devices, hearing aids, and more. For instance, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have recently brought forth a unique device called Earable, that is essentially a 3D printed sensor designed to monitor a person’s core body temperature in real time, besides functioning as a regular hearing aid and a sign sensor. Another path-breaking innovation that recently came to the fore is the 3D printed titanium hearing aid by Sonova. These developments stand as a crucial evidence to the score of enhancements that have been making the scene in healthcare 3D printing industry recently.

Healthcare 3D printing market trends in the dental sector

Dentistry was one of the first application arenas that deployed the 3D printing technology. Today, with the magical combination of CAD/CAM designs, 3D orienting, and oral scanning, the manufacturing of stone prototypes, plaster models, crowns, bridges, and aligners has become rather convenient, propelling healthcare 3D printing market from dental applications. A 3D scan is taken initially and is later converted into a 3D prototype and then 3D printed to develop a range of retainers, aligners, and orthodontic appliances. As per statistics, healthcare 3D printing industry from dentistry will grow at a rather appreciable pace over 2017-2024, subject to the customization of dental implants and devices and increasingly affordable prices. The Radboudumc University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands, has been using the 3D printing technology since 2014. The University has made it possible for toothless/worn-jawed patients to be fitted with an efficient 3D printed denture. Apparently, the first trials of this product were remarkably successful, and in the event that it enters the mass market, it would undoubtedly upscale the demand for healthcare 3D printing market.

Healthcare 3D printing market trends in the organ regeneration & prosthetics sector

Even prior to the official deployment of 3D printing for organ regeneration, experts had predicted that the technology would indeed bring about a slew of changes in the prosthetics and organ regeneration sector. Numerous instances provide unabashed evidence of the same, thereby paving the path for the growth of healthcare 3D printing market. The usage of 3D printing for prosthetics has been gaining remarkable traction of late, subject to the surprisingly modest success rate. For instance, recently, the National Institute of Rome Tumori Regina Elena, Italy, became the first hospital in the country to use personalized titanium implants for repairing the bones damaged due to bone cancer. Furthermore, a research paper published in Nature Biotechnology categorically states that a group of scientists were able to fabricate the bone, muscle, and cartilage structures to print a human ear by means of a self-created 3D-bioprinter. This study only goes to prove the extent to which 3D printing may help in organ regeneration, which by extension, will fuel healthcare 3D printing industry. In the event that this technology combats the pressing issue of organ shortage for transplants, healthcare 3D printing market will observe a meteoric rise like never before.

In the year 2013, a 2-year old born without the trachea actually had a 3D-printed windpipe built with her own stem cells. The incident led to the U.S. government funding a body on a chip project to print tissue samples mimicking the functions of vital organs such as the liver, heart, and lungs. All in all, the numerous innovations in healthcare 3D printing market only go to prove that this industry is slated to achieve remarkable heights of growth in the ensuing years. Healthcare 3D printing industry veraciously boasts of a rather diverse and colossal application sphere. The 3D printing technology is undoubtedly one of the most revolutionary technologies of its time, predicted to transform the perspective of the medical fraternity. It would be gravely erroneous to state that healthcare 3D printing market is at the nascent stage, pertaining to the fact that this business space is experiencing an opulence of innovations that have the capability to bring about a breakthrough in the dynamics of the healthcare sector. Major 3D printing healthcare industry players have been doing their utmost to bring about novelty and innovation in 3D printed medical devices since many years, that may very soon penetrate the masses. For instance, in 2013, the Nano3D Biosciences launched a new technology deploying magnetic levitation that enables four types of products to be assembled into the lung tissue. Besides, experts claim that the deployment of 3D printing in healthcare market is likely to bring forth a near permanent solution for organ transplants.

However, it is also true that healthcare 3D printing industry may experience slight obstacles on the path to success, subject to the robust enforcement of regulatory norms pertaining to the mass commercialization of this technique. In the event that the technology fails to work successfully on certain patients, which may very well be the case, subject to the fact that medical technologies work differently on different patients, as per their body constituency and genetic systems, companies operating in healthcare 3D printing market may find themselves embroiled in an ugly legal battle of sorts. Attesting to this very fact, healthcare 3D printing industry has not been accepted in the lines of the conventional verticals of the medical fraternity. Nonetheless, this only serves to indicate that this business space will witness widespread popularity over the years to come, with an incessant number of R&D activities being carried out to validate its working methodology for most human body systems. In addition, the repeated successes related to 3D printing that are being chronicled on a daily basis provide ample testimony to the fact that the application of 3D printing in healthcare market is indeed the most progressive, radical phenomena that the medical sector may have experienced in a long, long time. – Global Market Insights