The incidence of facial defects keeps increasing due to tumaor resections and faical traumas. Facial prostheses are considered as an ideal approch for maxillofacial rehabilitation, which are traditionally generated by hand. New advanced technologies have recently been introduced and demonstrated significant advantages for Maxillofacial Prosthetics although their usefulness still beyond a shadow of a doubt. The purpose of this research is to present a novel approach for fabricating wax facial prostheses patterns directly by machine.
Methods:
A new optical (structured-light) scanner developed a color digital model of patient's unaffected facial contour, which was copied and then mirrored to generate the facial prosthesis contour data. Then an ocular prostheses database was applied to ascertain the ocular prosthesis's size and position to the orbital prosthesis. Eventually a Selective Laser Sintering machine (SLS) directly manufactured the wax pattern of the facial prosthesis and the polystyrene resin prototype of Patient's defect face by computer, both of which were processed for flasking to produce the definitive facial prosthesis.
Results:
A digital color model of the patient face was acquired which consisted of 428278 triangles. The duration time of scanning was less than 4 seconds. The contour of facial prosthesis was successfully designed by Geomagic Studio software combining with the 3D ocular model. The wax pattern of the facial prosthesis was automatically customized by SLS machine in 2 hours and fitted the patient's face very well. The patient was very satisfied with the definitive facial prosthesis.
Conclusions:
This research presents a novel approach that integrates a new optical digitizing (scanning) technique and Selective Laser Sintering technique to achieve the computer-aided design and manufacture for the facial defect rehabilitation. It is time and cost more effective.
Key words:
facial defect; prosthesis; CAD/CAM
Acknowledgement:
This research has been supported by National Nature Science Fundation of China (30630066).