Virtual models and 3D printing improve jawbone regeneration

Dental implant technology has advanced greatly over the past few decades, allowing for more cost-effective procedures. Often, when a patient loses teeth due to trauma or disease, bone loss ensues that makes it difficult or impossible to use dentures or dental implants. To combat this problem, bone grafting, a surgical procedure that replaces bone, is often used to serve as a support for dental implants and replacement teeth. Often titanium mesh is used as a tent over the bone graft to support the graft’s shape and volume while the new bone grows. However, titanium mesh can be logistically challenging and time-consuming to form and position in the patient, and it can irritate the soft tissues in the mouth. A recent case letter in the current issue of the Journal of Oral Implantology describes a technique to create and position titanium mesh to improve guided bone regeneration.

In collaboration doctors from Loma Linda University, King Khalid University, and King Saud University encountered a patient who had several missing front teeth due to an injury that resulted in a large gap referred to as a bony defect. The authors decided to begin with a bone graft, followed by dental implants that would support the replacement teeth. They created a virtual 3D model of the patient’s mouth and bony defect, then, with a computer program, determined the correct position and placement of the bone graft based on the desired location of replacement teeth. They 3D printed a model and fabricated the titanium mesh to fit the intended bone position and volume. The authors filled the titanium mesh with bone harvested from a remote location in the patient’s mouth and secured it in the site of the missing teeth with fixation screws.