3D Printing and Virtual Surgical Planning in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Abstract

Compared to traditional manufacturing methods, additive manufacturing and 3D printing stand out in their ability to rapidly fabricate complex structures and precise geometries. The growing need for products with different designs, purposes and materials led to the development of 3D printing, serving as a driving force for the 4th industrial revolution and digitization of manufacturing. 3D printing has had a global impact on healthcare, with patient-customized implants now replacing generic implantable medical devices. This revolution has had a particularly significant impact on oral and maxillofacial surgery, where surgeons rely on precision medicine in everyday practice. Trauma, orthognathic surgery and total joint replacement therapy represent several examples of treatments improved by 3D technologies. The widespread and rapid implementation of 3D technologies in clinical settings has led to the development of point-of-care treatment facilities with in-house infrastructure, enabling surgical teams to participate in the 3D design and manufacturing of devices. 3D technologies have had a tremendous impact on clinical outcomes and on the way clinicians approach treatment planning. The current review offers our perspective on the implementation of 3D-based technologies in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery, while indicating major clinical applications. Moreover, the current report outlines the 3D printing point-of-care concept in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery.

The Application of 3D Virtual Technology in the Teaching of Clinical Medicine

“…The general steps of medical 3D printing include acquiring medical imaging data, modeling, and outputting to a printer for printing and postprocessing. The acquisition of medical imaging data, including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or 3D ultrasound, are traditional means of examination [5]. The accuracy and quality of the acquired medical imaging data are increasing with the improvement and upgrading of equipment, which facilitates the next step of modeling with higher accuracy.…”

Implementation of an In-House 3D Manufacturing Unit in a Public Hospital’s Radiology Department

“…In addition, the rapid evolution of AM technologies implies that equipment will become obsolete within a few years. In-house knowledge allows choosing the most appropriate technology, avoiding market dependency and defining the optimal processes [ 54 , 55 ]. Buying mature, validated and stable manufacturing technologies is mandatory [ 56 ].…”

“…Manufacturing costs are highly dependent on the selected technologies and materials [ 19 ]. Therefore, fluent communication with the clinician is mandatory to understand the application and select the appropriate resources [ 55 ].…”

Three-Dimensional Accuracy and Stability of Personalized Implants in Orthognathic Surgery: A Systematic Review and a Meta-Analysis

“…Computer-assisted surgical assessment using voxel-based registration (VBR) [ 7 , 8 , 9 ] is superior to the traditional technique for the assessment of the surgical outcome [ 10 ], offering accurate superimposition methods for measurements and comparisons [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Virtual surgical planning is an accurate approach to OS [ 11 ], creating virtual results with deviations less than 2 mm/4°, which are considered clinically acceptable [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]—although standardization lacks consensus [ 15 , 19 ]. A standardized protocol for accuracy and stability measurements in OS implying VBR and a validated automated analysis of outcomes in 3D has already been established [ 20 ] and implemented in the literature [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”