Abstract

The bone has the potential advantages of regenerating its biological remodelling in case of fractures. In some cases, it needs a support which is called as an implant until the bone restores to its original state or when the bone fails to regenerate. The proper design of orthopaedic biomaterial consists of biocompatibility, mechanical property, chemical stability and longevity, and the new bone formation is mainly based on the design and surface properties of this implant. Traditional manufacturing technology has some limitations of producing implants with defective morphologies, longer time duration of the process and high number of equipment needed to manufacture the implant. These limitations lead to the innovative way of manufacturing the bone implants called 3D printing, which provides a pathway of producing customized bone implants in cost-effective ways within lesser time duration. It is piercing the medical field especially in orthopaedics and providing promising approach in fabricating non-customized patient-specific bone implants. It is an advanced form of manufacturing technology in creating personalized medical products, dental implants and osteotomy instruments. The metal implants such as spinal fusion, fracture fixation, joint replacement and tumour defect repair parts are precisely designed using this advanced digital fabrication technique. With these advances, it is evident that 3D printing completely revolutionized the orthopaedic implants by overcoming the limitations of custom-sized bone implants. Hence, the chapter discuss the basics principles, methodologies, types, limitations and future perspectives of 3D printing technology in orthopaedic field.