Official News page 6

REAL LIFE NEWS: 3D PRINTING REBUILDS WOMAN’S JAW

by Hazed

The latest news of how 3D printing technology has been used is, quite literally, jaw-dropping: an 83-year-old woman has been given a replacement jawbone which was produced by one of the new 3D printers.

Traditional surgery was ruled out for the old lady because of her age, and because her lower jaw was so badly infected. So doctors turned to a 3D printer, which used laser sintering to build up layers of titanium, introduced as particles then fused together with a laser.

The final build was then coated with bio-ceramics, making it compatible with body tissue, so it could be fitted to replace the biological mandible.

Within a day of the titanium jaw being put into place, the patient was talking and swallowing food. The surgery to fit the bionic part only took a few hours, whereas microsurgical reconstruction would have taken up to twenty hours.

This operation took place last year in Belgium. It’s a lot more impressive than the plastic widgets and strange food sculptures we’ve seen produced by 3D printers in the past!

Source: http://www.reghardware.com/2012/02/06/3d_printed_jaw_replacement_
helps_grandmother_eat_again/

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