To: TobagoJack who wrote (102554 ) 4/1/2016 5:08:27 AM From: Snowshoe Read Replies (1) | Respond to A college kid spends $60 to straighten his own teeth. What could possibly go wrong? washingtonpost.com A college student has received a wealth of interest in his dental work after publishing an account of straightening his own teeth for $60. Amos Dudley, who studies digital design at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, had no dentistry experience when he decided to create plastic aligners to improve his smile. After publishing before-and-after pictures of his teeth this month, Dudley has received hundreds of requests from strangers, asking him to straighten their teeth. Dudley’s project has raised the question of whether the cost of professional dental care is unnecessarily high. Although some orthodontists say Dudley’s work may eventually lead to lower costs, they warn that the amateur’s methods were risky and could backfire, ultimately leading to a need for more expensive professional help. amosdudley.com "So what does one need to do this themselves? Knowledge of orthodontic movement, a 3D scanner, a mold of the teeth, CAD software, a hi-res 3D printer, retainer material, and a vacuum forming machine. I realized, I had - or could acquire - all of these things. I have my own 3D printer, but the dimensional accuracy isn’t good enough. NJIT has a digital fabrication lab with a Stratasys Dimension 1200es. That would do the trick. I tested the machine, and found it could give me X,Y accuracy under .1mm, which was close enough. I think a stereolithography printer like a Formlabs Form 2 would have been even better, since they have vast X,Y resolution and accuracy. Vertical print resolution didn’t matter much- the direction of motion was in X and Y, not Z. The same lab also has a vacuum forming machine, and some NextEngine laser scanners."
