considered highly suspicious of malignancy and investigated aggressively.
CASE REPORTA 58-year-old man was referred by his general dental practitioner (GDP) with a threemonth history of unilateral anaesthesia of his left chin and lip and a ten-week history of dull, throbbing pain from his left jaw radiating to his ear. He described a sudden onset of paraesthesia over a small area of the left side of his chin. This had progressively increased to involve his entire chin, lip and the oral mucosa overlying the left mandible.
This patient report describes simultaneous bimaxillary orthognathic surgery and mandibular reconstruction by means of three-dimensional (3D) planning, 3D printed biocompatible surgical wafers, and 3D selective-laser sintered titanium implant. A 26-year-old male patient presented with a left mandibular defect secondary to trauma. The whole body of the mandible on the left hand side was deficient with a narrow connection with the remaining left condyle. He had undergone orthodontic treatment for 18 months and was ready to undergo bimaxillary orthognathic surgery. Advanced cranio-maxillofacial software was used in processing his cone beam computer tomography scan data, and e-casts of his upper and lower dental arches. Bimaxillary surgery was planned with Le Fort 1 maxillary impaction and mandibular advancement to achieve a class 1 incisor relationship. Intermediate and final surgical wafers were designed following the planned movements and printed using biocompatible resin. The deficient left side of the mandible was reconstructed by means of mirror imaging the contra-lateral right side into the deficient left side with the aim of restoring normal facial symmetry. Biomedical software was then used in designing a reconstruction plate that connected the condylar head and the mandible following the planned bimaxillary surgery and mandibular continuity symmetry reconstruction. The plate was printed in titanium following state-of the-art selective laser sintering technology. The bimaxillary surgery and mandibular reconstruction were done simultaneously as planned along with an iliac-crest bone graft. This patient confirms the advantages of 3D computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacture technologies in optimizing clinical outcomes for cranio-maxillofacial reconstruction, especially when conducting two simultaneous clinical procedures.
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