LightForce Wants to End One-Size-Fits-All Braces With Fully Custom 3D Printed Brackets

For Decades, Braces Meant One Bracket for Everyone

Orthodontics has followed a remarkably static formula for generations. Manufacturers stamp out millions of identical metal or ceramic brackets, an orthodontist bonds them to a patient's teeth, and then spends months repositioning, wire-bending, and fine-tuning to chase the result the patient actually needed. The problem, according to Dr. Bryan Lockhart, an orthodontist and early advisor to LightForce, is that the hardware was never designed for the individual wearing it.

"Historically, it didn't matter who the patient was. Two patients could have completely different teeth, but they would get the exact same bracket," Lockhart told 3DPrint.com. "That meant much of an orthodontist's work happened after the braces were already in place." Companies like LightForce are trying to flip that timeline by making every bracket a custom medical device built for a specific tooth.

A Digital Workflow From the First Scan

The process starts with a standard intraoral digital scan at the orthodontist's office. LightForce accepts scans from virtually any major scanner, so practices keep the gear they already own. From there the company generates a digital treatment plan showing how each tooth should move, the orthodontist reviews and tweaks it, and only then does manufacturing begin.

Instead of a box of identical parts, LightForce prints a complete, patient-specific set. Because the movement strategy is baked into the bracket geometry from day one, doctors spend far less time repositioning brackets and bending archwires late in treatment. For patients, that can mean fewer appointments and shorter overall treatment time. There's a practical bonus too: because every bracket is pre-placed in a custom transfer tray, all of them can be bonded in a single sitting rather than one at a time.

Manufacturing Millions of Different Parts

Traditional manufacturing is optimized for sameness. LightForce's line does the opposite, which forces reinvention of nearly everything downstream. "Every single one of our products looks unique," said Katie Doran, Vice President of Physical Operations at LightForce. "That means our manufacturing systems and our quality control systems also have to be customized."

The company builds both its ceramic brackets and its newly introduced metal brackets in-house at its Wilmington, Massachusetts facility. Notably, LightForce prints its metal brackets directly rather than using 3D printed molds or casting patterns. "There are no molds," Doran said, pointing to the intellectual property protecting its core process. Direct metal printing is what lets the company treat each bracket as a one-off without the tooling overhead that would normally make mass customization impossible.

Why This Matters Beyond the Dental Chair

LightForce sits inside a broader story: healthcare remains one of additive manufacturing's most durable commercial engines, and personalization is where 3D printing has a structural advantage over legacy production. The company has been scaling aggressively, including an $80 million raise earmarked for expansion and hiring, and in July 2026 appointed Erica Rogers as its new CEO.

For makers and hobbyists, the takeaway is bigger than straighter teeth. LightForce is a working example of the same thesis behind every desktop printer on your bench: when the cost of making one part is close to the cost of making one thousand, you stop designing for the average and start designing for the person. That shift is playing out from the orthodontist's chair to the factory floor.