A new production technique of dental prosthetics, based on 3D printing, is being used to help indigenous Brazilians from the suruwahá nation, who lives in a state of almost full isolation in Southern Amazonas. The federal government with the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders is responsible for the initiative.

The equipment uses the technology CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacture) to design and make a highly customized dental prosthesis.

Thanks to the 3D printer, the whole process of identifying, designing and modeling a prosthesis for three teeth can be done in 20 minutes and implanted in the patient in the same day he was treated for a root canal.

"We are fulfilling a request that came from them with technology still rare in the large urban areas. That way, we avoid making the patients, who only recently had contact with white people, travel to the city for dental treatment," said the secretary of indigenous health Marco Antônio Toccolini, who was present at the beginning of the project, in November.

Until November 29th, when Folha arrived at the suruwahá lands, 32 people gained dental prosthetics, and 19 underwent root canals. A dentist is staying with the tribe until December 20th to follow up on her patients and make adjustments as necessary.

^{Translated by NATASHA MADOV}

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