COMPUTER-AIDED MODELING AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FABRICATION OF PATIENT-SPECIFIC MANDIBULAR IMPLANT

With the recent advances in computer-aided technologies and their breach into the medical field, there can be seen more and more successful outcomes, especially in the files of reconstructive prosthetic surgery. With the application of advanced tools for reconstruction of complex shape such as human anatomy, it allowed accurate and fast design of complex implants as a substitution for deformed or damaged regions in the field of maxillofacial surgery. Design, in compliance with application of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, is starting to gain more recognition as a tool for fast and accurate delivery of patient-specific 3D implants. This paper present a case study where such 3D technologies are used to design and fabricate a patient-specific mandibular implant. Tools for design of complex anatomical surfaces, such as mandible are presented and demonstrated in this paper. As the verification stage, AM technologies are used for visual inspection and surgical procedure planning of the designed 3D model of the mandibular implant