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Introducing LightForce Orthodontics and Its Customized 3D Printed Bracket System

The LightForce Orthodontics team. L-R: Kelsey Peterson-Fafara, Dr. Alfred Griffin, Craig Sidorchuk, and Dr. Lou Shuman.

A dental resident walked into a bar full of Harvard graduate students. No, it’s not the beginning of a bad joke, but actually the genesis of venture-backed startup LightForce Orthodontics, which officially launched at this year’s American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) Annual Session. The team is making what it calls the world’s first customized 3D printed bracket system for the digital orthodontics field.

The startup’s founder and CEO, Dr. Alfred Griffin, comes from a long line of dentists, and had just completed a combined dental and PhD program at the Medical University of South Carolina before moving to Boston in 2015 to attend the Harvard School of Dental Medicine for his residency. He wasn’t used to the whiteout conditions of a hard New England winter, and spent a lot of time holed up in his apartment, dreaming up the innovative bracket system.

Dr. Larry Andrews and A-Company first introduced fully programmed brackets in 1970, and not a lot has changed since then.

“Standard orthodontic prescriptions are essentially a compromise from the outset,” explained Dr. Griffin in the special edition AAO issue of this year’s Orthodontic Practice US. “They are an “all patients equal” proposition. But no two patients have exactly the same tooth morphology or exactly the same bite. So why would we think they should all have the same ‘ideal’ finish?

“The concessions with pre-programmed brackets have been imposed by several constraining factors. Two of the primary constraints are inflexible bracket manufacturing technologies and the imprecision of analog treatment planning.”

It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and takes anywhere from six to twelve months, using injection molding, to create molds for one standard prescription, which is about 20 brackets of different programming and shapes – not a realistic environment for patient-specific customization. So Dr. Griffin turned to 3D printing, which already has many applications in the dental and orthodontics fields, such as creating aligners, molds, implants, dentures, and even braces.

Most braces are “off the rack,” and even though skilled orthodontists can make this work, Dr. Griffin knew that 3D printing, which is a good fit for custom applications, could be used to make patient-specific braces. So he created a patented system for 3D printed orthodontic treatment brackets, using material nearly identical to injection modeled ceramic brackets but that’s been formulated specifically for 3D printing.

“Delivering a patient-specific prescription for each case, the LightForce system is unlike anything you’ve ever used,” claims the website. “Each bracket is custom created and 3D-printed, bringing a new level of flexibility and clinical possibilities. This enhances treatment efficiency and minimizes time-consuming adjustments in all phases of treatment.”

That same snowy winter, Dr. Griffin attended a local happy hour with Harvard graduate students, and after buying a few rounds, explained his idea to the group. Engineer Kelsey Peterson-Fafara immediately recognized the potential, and would soon be employee #1. Not long after LightForce, originally titled Signature Orthodontics, was accepted into the Harvard Innovation Lab accelerator, Dr. Griffin met orthodontist Dr. Lou Shuman, who had been an important member of the executive team for another dental company using 3D printing: Invisalign. He soon asked Dr. Shuman to be the company’s co-founder, and help reach out to the venture capital community.

LightForce Orthodontics was one of 128 applicants chosen to join the MassChallenge Accelerator program in 2016, and became entrepreneurs-in-residence at the MassChallenge facility, later receiving $50,000 in equity-free financing as one of the 15 winners. The next step was locking down venture capital, but Dr. Griffin didn’t want to work with just anyone – he was looking to change how orthodontics works at a fundamental level, not just for a cash grab. The company’s first major funding came from AM Ventures (AMV), which is dedicated to investing in 3D printing.

“We wanted a strategic investor — not just someone with money,” Dr. Shuman said. “We wanted expertise in our fundamental technology. AMV was an ideal partner for LightForce.”

Speaking of expertise, AMV introduced Dr. Griffin and Dr. Shuman to EOS founder and industry pioneer Hans Langer, who believes that LightForce has achieved the two most important components in the future of 3D printing: creating high value customization, and having a market that’s large enough to support it.


LightForce continued to grow, staying on as Alumni in Residence at MassChallenge through 2017, hiring expert dental software developers, finalizing the bracket design, and receiving FDA clearance for the system. The startup closed its Series A funding round last summer, enjoyed a successful debut at the 2019 AAO Annual Session, and has multiple patients in treatment who wanted to be the first to sport customized, 3D printed braces.

The brackets can be perfectly contoured to any tooth morphology. The initial system was made to compete with metal brackets, and LightForce is now working on higher-aesthetic options and looking at different materials, as well as perfecting its service and supply chain logistics. It’s a simple three-step digital workflow: scan, create the 3D model, and print. The online interface is intuitive, with cloud-based treatment planning software that allows users to make adjustments directly on the model, before the custom 3D printed appliance is shipped in just 7-10 business days after approval.

In order to keep up with a changing industry, LightForce’s treatment planning system will keep evolving as necessary. Aligners are becoming more capable, but many orthodontists still use braces for their patients, which is why LightForce is looking at the larger marketplace.

Dr. Griffin explained, “We don’t want to bring the idea to market and say `here’s how to use it.` We want to bring this to the orthodontist and ask them, ‘What can you do with it?’”

As direct-to-consumer companies gain popularity, Dr. Griffin wants the startup to acknowledge the expertise of the orthodontic community, and help the field, not just take it over.

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The Impact of 3D Printing on the Medical Device Industry

[Image: NASA]

In January of 2017, Dr. Julielynn Wong, founder of 3D4MD, used Made In Space‘s Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) aboard the International Space Station to 3D print a finger splint for the treatment of mallet finger, an injury that commonly afflicts astronauts. It was an historic moment – the first time medical supplies had ever been 3D printed in outer space. Back on Earth, the medical industry was becoming more and more familiar with 3D printing as a way to create medical devices, supplies, surgical models, and more. Some might already have called the technology out-of-this-world, but now it had literally left the planet entirely.

3D4MD specializes in the creation of medical supplies using 3D printing on-site in remote areas. It doesn’t get much more remote than outer space, but there are plenty of locations on Earth that don’t have access to quality healthcare. Those locations are 3D4MD’s targets. Dr. Wong developed a solar-powered, mobile 3D printer that can be transported in a carry-on suitcase, so that it can be taken anywhere in the world and set up even in the most off-the-grid areas. In these areas, the 3D4MD team sets up a 3D printer and creates splints, medical models, assistive devices, and surgical tools wherever they’re needed.

3D4MD’s work is only one example of how 3D printing is changing the medical device industry. The benefits that 3D printing brings to remote areas are obvious – a solar-powered machine can be set up anywhere, without access to electricity, and used to instantly produce supplies that otherwise would have to be ordered from halfway across the world, requiring time and money that many of the people in these areas don’t have. It’s extremely cheap to produce a plastic splint with a 3D printer. But it’s not just remote areas that are benefiting from the technology.

Not long ago, scoliosis braces were bulky, uncomfortable, and highly visible, and creating them was no picnic either, requiring plaster casts. But 3D printing has changed that, enabling the creation of lightweight, comfortable braces that fit snugly and can be created with no more than a quick scan of the body. Recently, WASPmedical inaugurated its Digital Orthopedic Laboratory, a lab equipped with a custom body scanner and two large-scale 3D printers for the creation of orthopaedic devices such as braces and splints.

One of the keys to the importance of 3D printed medical devices is how easy it is to create patient-specific treatments and to do it inexpensively and with a minimum of discomfort for the patient. 3D Systems has been working with patient-specific implants for some time, 3D printing them for client companies such as K2M and EIT.  In the past, implants were made only in a few different sizes, and frequently would not fit the patient perfectly, resulting in further pain, complications, and often revision surgery. 3D printing, however, is enabling medical professionals to create implants in the exact size and shape of the patient’s anatomy, meaning that surgeries are quicker and there’s less of a risk of complications or need for further surgery in the future.

Katie Weimer, Vice President of Medical Devices for 3D Systems, has been working with 3D printing and medicine for the majority of her career. She is an expert in the field of 3D printed medical devices, and sees patient-specific metal implants as a major factor driving the industry forward.

“We’re seeing the area of metals manufacturing, specifically for volume printing of medical devices…as a really hot area right now, where medical device companies are looking to 3D printing to print complex shapes much easier, for things like part consolidation, for things like integration of porous structures into these solid implants,” she told 3DPrint.com. “We’re able to really compete with traditional manufacturing in many areas to create a more cost-competitive solution for printing these types of implants while, at the same time, improving functionality and outcomes by doing some of these things like integration of porous and solid in one manufacturing step instead of two.”

[Image: 3D Systems]

It’s easy to get over-enthusiastic and think that 3D printing will take over the medical device industry, but Weimer is more realistic, pointing out that the industry has been using many other forms of manufacturing for years, and that many of those methods are still perfectly reliable. She would like to see about a 15 to 20% adoption rate of 3D printing in the medical device industry, realistically.

“Even that sort of adoption would be really a paradigm shift in the industry,” she said.

Speaking of paradigm shifts, Weimer also mentioned areas like hearing aid shells and clear dental aligners as areas where 3D printing is making some of the most impact. The hearing aid industry is one that genuinely has been taken over by 3D printing – 15 years ago, EnvisionTEC 3D printed hearing aid shells for Phonak, a Sonova brand, and the rest of the hearing aid industry rapidly followed suit. The technology allowed for the kind of custom fit and comfort that wasn’t possible before, not to mention enabling much faster production. As Weimer pointed out, patient-specific hearing aids can’t be mass-manufactured without 3D printing – it’s just not possible with any other kind of technology.

Volume production and patient-specific capabilities are among the most significant factors to consider when looking at the impact 3D printing has had on the medical device industry. No, 3D printing may never take over the industry completely, but it has changed it in immensely positive ways. Its effects on people range from a more comfortable hearing aid to a spinal implant that enables someone to walk. This is an industry that is still very young and growing rapidly, and it will continue to be a fascinating one to watch as it affects people all over the world.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.