The company is determined to bring about change to the medical industry

Apr 4, 2014 08:48 GMT  ·  By

Medicine is always evolving, but 3D Systems doesn't think that it's adopting 3D printing technology as fast as it could, so it is getting actively involved by buying companies with direct stake in this segment of the world's economy and culture.

For one thing, 3D Systems has acquired Medical Modeling Inc., which specializes in making personalized surgical treatments and patient specific medical devices.

Thus, 3D Systems has just gained access to design and construct intellectual property related to virtual and physical surgical planning and clinical transfer tools.

Under the leadership of Andy Christensen, Medical Modelling rose early in the field of 3D printing-centric personalized surgery and patient-specific medical device solutions.

Its manufacturing processes were cleared by the FDA. Its tools implants and other design services helped tens of thousands of patients.

Knowing all that, it's not so strange that 3D Systems would be interested in an acquisition. It's still a pretty big buy though, and a radical one too, since 3D Systems was more of a jack of all trades on the 3D printing front until now.

No doubt, the company will continue to make various consumer- and industrial-centric products and technologies, but now it has become a power on the medical front.

Then, there's the other move, the partnership with 3Shape Implant Studio, which has a software capable of enabling easier and better dental implant planning and surgical guides.

3Shape is a Danish company, privately held, from Copenhagen. It markets 3D scanners and CAD/CAM software, with customers mostly from among those who create and manage complex manufacturing processes.

Its customer network spans the whole world, which will be a great boon for 3D Systems. What the partnership consists of is this: 3D Systems is using the Project 3510 Dental Printer to print drill guides out of Stoneplast dental materials.

It will help dentists make accurate dental implant drill guides much faster, thus reducing the time it takes to do a dental job on their patients, and also the risks of it turning out badly. It will also give them more time and, thus, the opportunity to see even more patients than before.

It all works like this: Implant Studio makes standard 3D file format .STL models, which are then sent over to the 3D Systems ProJet 3510 MP, which makes the guides. The Stoneplast can be made opaque or transparent.

“We are very pleased to offer our dental lab customers a proven solution for manufacturing drill guides using 3Shape’s new Implant Studio software, a solution that combines the latest products from two leading providers forming a powerful and affordable manufacturing tool,” said Lee Dockstader, vice president of business development, 3D Systems.