So, here’s a big secret. An artificial jaw was implanted in an 83 year old patient. Not only did this operation occur a year ago in the Netherlands (June 2011), but the jaw was produced by a 3D printer. [If you want even more information about 3D printers, search for 3D in the index to the right.] The first jaw transplant in North America was performed in 2006- and in that case the patient had the donated jaw reside in his back muscles for 8 months to insure biocompatibility.