FIGURE 3.

Paradigm shift in scaffold production. Additive manufacturing has introduced a departure from design for conventional manufacturing processes to additive manufacturing driven by design for the individual patient. The generalized design approach utilizes traditional product specification and engineering processes to facilitate large-scale production for distribution to a target population. Disadvantages of conventional manufacturing include limited capacity for complex designs and less customization. Additive manufacturing (AM) utilizes individual patient data processed by computer-aided design (CAD)/computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software to perform virtual planning, design optimization, and fabrication of highly personalized scaffolds for bone regeneration. This design process begins and ends with direct patient interaction. AM has enormous potential to improve accessibility to personalized regenerative medicine in everyday clinical dentistry.