3D Printing for Surgery

I came across this story today.  Surgeons in the Netherlands have used a 3D printer to create a new jaw bone for a patient suffering froma bone infection.

Rather than subject the patient to dangerous reconstructive surgery, the doctors designed a new jaw bone in 3D.  It's a complex shape, but 3D printing allowed the surgeons to design the new bone to include articulated joints, areas to encourage the re-growth of muscle and features to house nerves and blood vessels.

Once designed in 3D, the files were sent to Dutch company LayerWise who created the bone from Titanium powder.  The bone has been created layer by layer, adding a small amount of material that then is heated with a laser to fuse the material before repeating for the next layer.  The final finish was created by adding a bioceramic coating.

The full story reads like something out of science fiction, but the applications for this technology must be nearly limitless.  3D printing (or "additive manufacturing" to give it the proper name) has really come of age.