Titanium Jaw Bone Made By 3D Printing and 3D Scanning Services
A New Jaw bone
Looking back we can see that 3D printing and 3D laser scanning services have done some amazing things. Here is a jaw-dropping story from several years ago. There was an old lady who had a serious problem. She was suffering from a bone infection in her jaw. The researchers and scientists who we given the task to fix her up decided to make her a new jaw using 3D printing and 3D laser scanning services. This was the first time such a task had been done. Thankfully they did because it paved the way for other people who would face similar problems to get jaw replacements.
The where and who
It all started in Belgium at Hasselt University’s Biomedical Research Institute when some research was started making metal implants. The final product was a titanium-made device that was then implanted in the woman’s face. They accomplished the task by using a powdered form of the titanium metal. They took that and heated it up with a laser to fused it together layer by layer. It was all done by a manufacturer called LayerWise. These guys are in the know when it comes to 3D printing and 3D laser scanning services.
Not such an easy task
So why did they not do the surgery in the usual way by simply reconstructing the bones? The answer to that question is because of her age. We’re talking 83 years old here. Surgery can be a bit risky when it comes to surgery at that age. So they decided that they would try a newer and safer technique. Such an implant would not be easy since there are a lot of complexities involved in the jaw bone. The goal was to have the implanted device reconnect with muscles and to get nerves and veins to regrow.
The process
To get the job done they had to get a jaw bone designed digitally that could work as a replacement. Once they had that ready to go they could begin to print. The printing process involved layer upon layer of 2D slices of the the jaw. Each layer was built with the titanium powder that was melted with a laser. The end product was thousands of layers of melted titanium to make an artificial jaw bone which they then covered with a bio ceramic material. Finally, after all was completed, they could proceed to do surgery to give her the new jaw-bone. The time it took to print the artificial jaw was several hours. The time it took to do the actual perjury was several hours, but even so, the over all time was much shorter than it usually took for reconstruction of a jaw bone in the traditional fashion. 3D printing and 3D laser scanning services have shortened this time.
Today, medical specialists are continuing to use this method to replace jaw bones of people who suffer from trauma, disease or other serious bone problems. It seems to have a very promising future. There is no doubt that 3D printing and 3D laser scanning services will continue to find good uses for 3D technology in the medical field.