3D Printed Medical Model to Resolve Cleft Alveolus Defect: A Case Study

3D printing or Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology has been in existence for more than 30 years. The footprint of this technology has been entered into almost each and every industry such as medical, dental, aerospace, construction, automobile, etc. One of the most benefited industries using AM is medical industry. In case of medical or maxillofacial surgical field, each and every patient has a unique anatomy. The traditional way of analyzing the patient anatomy was by using X-ray with single layer or CT scans with multiple layers information is available that too as soft data. 3D printing technology provides a physical model from virtual data of the patient anatomy using CT/MRI/CBCT information with the help of medical software. The physical 3D printed medical model is very useful for pre planning complex surgeries. The current case study is regarding a 35 years male patient, who presented with a defect in maxillary anterior alveolar region and nasal regurgitation of fluids. Based on chief complaint, history and clinical examination, a diagnosis of cleft alveolus was made. CT scan was advised to see the defect in all the 3 planes. The surgery was planned for reconstruction of the bony defect and to prevent escape of oral fluids into nasal cavity. Treatment planning and mock surgery were performed on the 3D printed medical model, which reduced about 30% of total surgery time thereby decreasing the complications

Improving Volumetric Accuracy of AM Part Using Adaptive Slicing of Octree Based Structure

In Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes, the layer-by-layer fabrication of complex geometries may lead to stair casing and thus error resulting in volumetric inaccuracies in the model. Using thinner slices reduces the staircase error and improves part accuracy but there is a tradeoff between number of layers and the build time for manufacturing part. This paper presents a octree based structure to improve the accuracy as well as reduces the build time. In the current work, firstly converting STL file into a modified boundary octree data structure (MBODS) and then calculating the non-uniform slice thicknesses (adaptive slicing) from the octree representation. This slice thickness at any height is computed from the AM machine parameters and the smallest octree size at that available height. After the computation of the variable slice thicknesses has been completed, the part is virtually manufactured and the part errors are calculated. The virtually manufactured part and physical models are inspected to evaluate the volumetric errors. This algorithm uses an octree approach to improve the volumetric accuracy. And build time for the two different case studies are also done.Mechanical Engineerin

Design & Manufacturing of Implant for reconstructive surgery: A Case Study

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing is an emerging technology in oral & maxillofacial surgery with respect to reconstructive bone surgery. Such treatment protocols often require customized implants to fulfill the functional and aesthetic requirements. Currently, such customized implants are being manufactured using AM technology. This paper describes a mandible defect of oral & maxillofacial surgery. The fracture and defect of the mandible inferior border is one of the serious complications during alignment and fixing of the implant. Reconstruction of such defects is daunting tasks. The case report describes a method based on Computer Aided Design (CAD) and AM for individual design, fabrication and implantation of a mandible inferior border. A 40-year old male meet an accident with rash drive. The patient specific customized implant is designed with patient Computed Tomography (CT) data. The CT images in Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) file format is used to develop a 3D CAD model of customized implant. The implant is designed to maintain the symmetry of mandible from right to left. The designed implant model is manufactured by Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) techniques with a biocompatible material. The patient mandible prototype model was manufactured by AM process, which is helpful for pre-planning of surgical procedures. For these pre-planning surgical procedures, a perfect fit obtained during surgery. The patient ultimately regained reasonable mandible contour and appearance of the face.

Mandibular Repositioning Appliance Following Resection Crossing the Midline- A3D Printed Guide

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is one of the latest manufacturing processes which has evolved dramatically over the past three decades. The benefits of AM have steadily stepped in to almost all modern industries. The medical and dental industries may have benefitted the most in this regard. In the medical industry, every complex surgery has unique requirements in planning or execution, where it needs customized surgical guides or tools. In patients with mandibular tumors where a surgical resection is performed crossing the midline, currently there is no guide or tool available for repositioning the mandible to the patient’s original anatomy. To overcome this, an attempt has been made to develop a customized repositioning appliance, which can be used for pre surgical planning and the same can be transferred to the patient during surgery. The repositioning appliance is developed using the patient's CT data which is then processed with the use of medical translation software. The final patient specific repositioning appliance is fabricated using AM technology. This guide has been used on the models of the jaws requiring resection to check their efficacy and the condylar repositioning has been seen to be close to the pre-surgical position. This appliance is useful for pre-surgical planning, pre-bending and adaptation of the reconstruction plate to the mandible and also to reposition the condyles to their original positions after the resection.Mechanical Engineerin