3D Printing in Oral Health Science: Applications and Future Directions

This book on 3D printing in oral health science aims to equip the reader with a sound understanding of contemporary clinical applications in all fields of dentistry and their future directions. In the last few years, the development of 3D printing for medical and dental applications has increased tremendously. Advancements in 3D printing create the possibility of customized products, savings on small-scale productions, ease of sharing and processing of patient image data, and educational up-gradation. Looking at the dental specialties, it is evident that 3D printing has applications in all aspects of oral health science including prosthodontics, oral surgery, periodontics, endodontics, and orthodontics. This book will cover all major fields in dentistry and will help the practitioner in the process of decision-making and apply concepts in clinical or laboratory practice. It is based on current scientific evidence to provide readers with an up-to-date contemporary understanding of the subject, both from the clinical and the technological side. The book is a valuable asset for all who specialize in 3D printing and for those interested in learning more about this field.

Dr. Prabhat Kumar Chaudhari is currently working as an Additional Professor at the Division of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Deformities, Centre for Dental Education and Research, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. He has a broad background in Dental Surgery, with expertise in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics. He is a member of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (MFDS RCPS) of Glasgow, the Royal College of Surgeons (MFDS RCS) of England, and the Faculty of Dental Trainers of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) and the National Academy of Medical Sciences (India). He is a part of the Cochrane India Network and a Member of the topic group “Dental Diagnostics and Digital Dentistry” (TG-Dental) as part of the International Telecommunication Union and World Health Organization (ITU/WHO) Focus Group on artificial intelligence for health (FG-AI4H).  Dr. Chaudhari is an Associate Editor of BMC Oral Health (digital dentistry section), and Section Editor for the Journal of Oral Biology and Craniofacial Research. He has eleven years of teaching and research experience. Currently, he is involved in teaching and training of Cleft and Craniofacial Orthodontic Fellowship programme, Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) students, and Bachelor of Science in Dental Operating Room Assistance (BSc. DORA) programme. His current research areas are the application of 3-D printing, non-ionizing, non-invasive surface imaging, and artificial intelligence-based deep neural networks for dental and oral health applications. He is committed to extending his research and training future generations of clinicians and researchers in these areas. 

Dr. Dinesh Bhatia pursued his Ph.D. in Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Engineering from MNNIT, Allahabad, India in 2010 with Bachelor’s (2002) and Master’s degree (2004) in Biomedical Engineering from Mumbai University. He completed his MBA (Dual Specialization) from IMT Ghaziabad in 2007. He is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, Meghalaya, India He is the recipient of the “Young Scientist Award (BOYSCAST 2011-12)” by the Government of India to pursue research in osteoarthritis (OA) for one year at Adaptive Neural Systems Laboratory, Biomedical Engineering Department, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, the USA, where he was leading a multidisciplinary team of researchers. He is also the recipient of “INAE fellowship award” in 2011 by the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He was selected as one of the twelve young Biomedical scientists by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Govt. of India to pursue a research fellowship (2014-15) in the field of sensory prosthetics at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He has attended Biomechanics and Human Gait training in Munich, Germany in March 2017 and training in the use of Neuro-diagnostics equipment(s) at Ivanovo, Russia in September 2017. He delivered an Invited Talk on Gait and Osteoarthritis in Kaula Lampur, Malaysia in August 2018. He has several research papers in reputed journals, conferences, seminars, and symposia with teaching and research experience of more than eighteen (18) years. He is an invited panel member of several professional bodies, editorial boards, committees, societies, and forums. He has worked on various funded projects on physically challenged, disabled, and paralyzed persons and a few projects are still ongoing. He has published 09 books and 25 books chapters to date and supervised several undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students. He has several patents, copyrights, and designs to his name. His research focuses on understanding muscle mechanics, joint kinematics, and dynamics involved in performing locomotion and routine tasks and undermining its effects during an injury or disease. His areas of interest are medical instrumentation, biomechanics and rehabilitation engineering, medical informatics, signal and image processing, marketing, and international business. 

Dr. Jitendra Sharan did his graduation in Dental Sciences and post-graduation in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics from Manipal University. After post-graduation, he joined Manipal University as faculty. In the pursuit to gain a better understanding of research insight, he joined the Centre for Dental Education and Research, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India as a Doctoral student. He worked on a novel technique for surface modification of Grade V titanium alloy in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research - National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL). He was awarded a Ph.D. degree from AIIMS, New Delhi in 2018 and was the first to get a Ph.D. in dental surgery (Orthodontics) from AIIMS, New Delhi. Since January 2018, he is attached to the Department of Dentistry, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, as faculty. He has published his research work in reputed journals related to biomaterial science, orthodontics, and interdisciplinary areas.

He has written three books, of which MCQs in Orthodontics (2nd Edition) were written for dental undergraduate students who are preparing for the various post-graduate entrance exams. It also helps the post-graduate students of orthodontics who are preparing for the Orthodontics Board Examination. Orthodontic Enquest has been written for orthodontic post-graduates. At present, he is working on a novel orthodontic mini-screws implant design, bio-conjugation of titanium alloys with bio-molecules, and nanoparticle doping of the biomolecules for dental applications.