In-House 3D Printed Positioning and Cutting Guide System for Mandibular Reconstruction. Protocol and case report.

Maxillofacial surgery planning has been improved by technological advances in 3D printing. The use of customized cutting and positioning guides allows intraoperative reproduction of pre-planned osteotomy cuts, resulting in increased surgical accuracy, reduced surgical time and improved esthetic and functional outcomes. Our paper presents a new method for creating and printing in-house cutting and positioning guides. A computer program (Brainlab iPlan) was used to segment the mandible for three-dimensional planning from imported conventional computed tomography (CT) scans. The virtual model of the mandible was printed on a stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer and a reconstruction plate was adapted to the printed model. The surface of the model and the screw-retained plate was scanned using a structured light surface 3D scanner (Artec Eva). The obtained scan of the jaw and plate in position was processed and transformed into an STL file. Free software (Autodesk Meshmixer) superimposes the initial jaw on the scanned jaw with the plate, designing a customized hybrid cutting guide that allows accurate intraoperative positioning, knowing the exact position of the reconstruction plate screws in the jaw. The total design, fabrication and 3D printing time for the in-house hybrid guide was 595 min. The average total printing cost was EUR 16. We found the technique to be simple and repeatable. We present and describe here a novel and simple technique for in-house 3D printed positioning and cutting guide system which can be applied to overall maxillofacial area. In cases of mandibular reconstruction, this protocol guarantees an adequate esthetic and functional result. Key words:Oral cancer, 3D surgery, CAD/CAM, personalized medicine, surgical guides, in house.

Clinical Outcomes and Cost Analysis of Fibula Free Flaps: A Retrospective Comparison of CAD/CAM versus Conventional Technique.

(1) Background: A decrease in operative time can not only improve patient outcomes through a reduction in the risk of developing complications but can also result in cost savings. The aim of this study is to determine whether there an intraoperative time gain can be achieved by using the preoperative virtual planning of mandibular reconstruction using a free fibula flap compared with freehand plate bending and osteotomies. (2) Methods: A retrospective comparative study was carried out in the Oral and Maxillofacial Department of La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain. The study compared 18 patients in the CAD/CAM group with 19 patients in the conventional freehand group. A comparison was made between the total surgical time, the comorbidities, and the hospital stay. The resource consumption was estimated using a cost analysis. (3) Results: Although CAD/CAM was a statistically more expensive procedure in the perioperative phase, no significant differences were observed in total health care costs between the two groups. There was a non-significant trend towards an increase in complications with conventional reconstruction plates compared to patient-specific plates (PSI). (4) Conclusions: CAD/CAM technology and a 3D printed cutting guide offer a significantly shorter surgical time, which is associated with a reduction in hospital days, PACU days, and complications. The cost of CAD/CAM technology is comparable to that of the conventional freehand technique.

Oral manifestations of ellis-van creveld syndrome. A rare case report.

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome (EVC) or chondroectodermal dysplasia is an autosomal recessive disorder, characterized by dwarfism, polydactyly, hypoplastic fingernails and congenital heart defects, finding in most of the cases orofacial anomalies. We describe a clinical case of a 9 year old male patient diagnosed with EVC who visited our Maxillofacial private consultation at Alcorcon Southern Hospital, presenting typical oral manifestations such as dental agenesis, delayed eruption, hypoplasia of the enamel, dental dysmorphism, taurodontism and supernumerary teeth. EVC syndrome is a rare disease and requires a multidisciplinary approach. Oral features are constant and requires the jointly performance of Odontologist and Maxillofacial surgeon aiming to get an appropriate treatment sequence surgery-orthodontics in order to achieve a suitable functional result to improve the quality of life of these patients. Key words:Ellis-Van creveld syndrome, chondroectodermal dysplasia, oral manifestations, craniofacial manifestations.

Management of atrophic maxilla in severe osteoporosis treated with bisphosphonates: a case report.

Studies investigating whether osteoporosis is a risk factor for using implants have revealed no correlation between possible implant failure and the severity of osteoporosis. However, osteoporotic patients frequently require bone regeneration techniques, because they do not fulfil optimum conditions for implant placement owing to the diminished bone structure and rapid resorption of the alveolar bone. We present a successful case of advanced implant therapy using platelet-rich plasma in a patient with severe osteoporosis who had been previously treated with bisphosphonates. We are not aware that this technique has been previously described in literature.