Manufacture of Silicone Nasal Prostheses With Digital Tools and 3d-Printed Molds

Abstract

Facial mutilations can result from trauma, congenital diseases, surgical sequelae of malignant diseases and infections. Although medicine has achieved excellent technological and surgical resources in recent decades, in many cases bucomaxillofacial rehabilitation with prostheses is still necessary, which is often the best option for the patient, if not the only one; allowing the reintegration of the individual to their social and family environment, directly impacting their entire quality of life. The conventional method of manufacturing nasal prostheses is laborious, time consuming and highly dependent on the artistic skills of the prosthetists. This study aims to describe the making of a silicone nasal prosthesis using digital tools and 3D printed molds. Decreasing the professional's artistic dependence, ensuring repeatability, good adaptation and high quality of the final prosthesis. The entire procedure was carried out in partnership with the Additive and Tooling Manufacturing Nucleus (NUFER) of the Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR) with Clinirad (Oncology Clinic) at Angelina Caron Hospital (HAC).