Dentalcompare
Clinical Director
A few years ago, I remember watching an amazing procedure performed by a team of oral surgeons at the Nobel World Conference They were using a part of a tibia to reconstruct a jaw. Part of the awe was that they were performing the surgery in another part of the world and we were watching it live, translated into several languages. The amazing part was that they had already placed dental implants into the leg bone in the exact position they needed it, and were in the process of attaching a denture to it. Mind = blown. I definitely did not learn about that in dental school.
Now, only a few years into the future, this procedure is obsolete. Why leave the patient limping from the retrieval of all that donor bone when you can just print a new jaw? The Biomedical Research Institute at Hasselt University in Belgium were able to successfully fabricate a new titanium mandible using 3D printing techniques. As an added bonus, it already has the screw holes necessary attach a denture. The practical implications in dentistry are obvious. It's a miracle cure for patients that suffer from cancer, bone diseases, trauma, and more. Why not print a cheek bone, or orbital cavity as well?