When can I Bioprint teeth ?

It is doubtless that technology has touched many industries. None more so than 3d Bioprinting technology. Bioinks and Bioprinting are set to become the technologies of tommorow’s reality, today.

In this 3 part series we will explore the use of bioprinting technologies in relation to differentiated biological tissue generation. We hope to give an overview of current, most promising technologies and methods as well as discussing how this will impact modern dental practice.

We find ourselves bedding in nicely to the 4th industrial revolution, we live in the digital age. Ever since my father brought home the zx81 that admittedly didn’t do much, my mindset changed to considering things from a digital prespective. This is no more applicable than to issues of world over population, food farming and biological solutions to therapeutic body tissue generation. These issues have become increasingly pressing and the solutions that are being generated increasingly advanced.

So where are we with Bioinks and Bioprinting ?

Back in 2017, a team of researchers from the Pohang University of Science and Technology developed and 3D printed what they dubbed “bio-blood-vessels,” by utilising materials from the human body as a template for the process. The blood vessel functioned very well. While researchers from Harvard University, just a year earlier, developed a new type of bioink specifically for building kidneys, allowing the team of researchers to recreate vital parts of the kidney. 

A team from the bioprinting startup Organovo in San Diego has already gone on to demonstrate that it can print human liver patches and implant them into mice.

Human trials for liver transplants could start as early as next year. The idea of bioprinting human organs is clearly no longer some far off science fiction idea. Researchers from private companies and leading universities have printed ears, lungs, and even a heart. 

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have recently created the first full-size 3D bioprinted human heart digital model using their Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH) technique. This novel additive manufacturing method utilizes a needle to inject bioink into a bath of soft hydrogel to support the print. The technique allows for the creation of complex organ features and characteristics.

Printing a heart, a kidney, a cornea or even brain tissue might be some way off from coming to a hospital near you due to problems printing the intricate vascularisation networks. Printing Bioinks is, presently difficult at more than 200 microns resolution . The microstructure of blood supply required by living cells in these sorts of organs exceeds the practical capabilities, in all but the most expensive and advanced technolgies currently available.

In the next installment we will discuss the applicability of these technologies to printing bone and tooth. Will this enable us to routinely use Bioinks and Bioprinting in Dentistry ?