Titanium, 3D-printed prosthetic jaw implanted in Melbourne man in Australian first surgery

Surgeons have successfully implanted a titanium 3D-printed prosthetic jaw in a Melbourne man in an Australian-first operation. It is hoped the success of the locally designed and tested part will lead to high-tech export opportunities. The patient, 32-year-old psychologist Richard Stratton, was missing part of his jawbone including the left condile, the joint to the skull.
He believed part of his jaw never grew properly after he received a bad knock to the jaw during childhood.
In the past few years, he has suffered increasing pain while chewing or moving his jaw and he has not been able to fully open his mouth.
Oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr George Dimitroulis designed a prototype prosthesis that was refined and tested by experts at Melbourne University’s mechanical engineering department.Dr Dimitroulis said that while there had been a handful of 3D-printed jaw operations worldwide, he was not aware of any that incorporated a titanium part and a 3D-printed plastic jaw joint.”In terms of joint replacement specifically, what we call the TMJ – the temporomandibular joint – we suspect that this may be the first 3D-printed jaw joint in the world,” he said.It was designed to protect the skull from a rubbing metal joint which would wear and erode into the cranial cavity.
“The beauty of this particular joint itself is that it was designed in Australia and manufactured [by an Australian firm] … and not just manufactured in the common sense, but 3D printed,” he said.”It really makes the fit truly patient-fitted, truly customised, as opposed to ‘we’re close enough’ and it’s something that I think will become the norm in the future as technology [becomes] cheaper.”Dr Dimitroulis said it was a great example of “smart Australia” and 3D printing would lead to “revolutionary” changes in jaw prosthesis surgery.
Sunrise of a whole new industry
Before the operation, Mr Stratton said he was excited to be “patient X on the Australian joint” and joked that he had put in an order for a “Brad Pitt” jaw.
He hoped many more patients would benefit from having their replacement joints 3D printed and personalised to them.”It sounds a bit [like] science fiction … I don’t really understand 3D printing that much but it’s exciting,” he said.”They have a 3D model of my skull and the fact that they’ve made the joint to fit that perfectly, I feel a lot safer in knowing that it’s not just a factory made, off-the-shelf joint.”Hopefully all the time they’ve spent on their computers and designing my new jaw, hopefully that will make the short-term recovery better for me and also the longer-term outcome is that it will last a lot longer and hopefully work a lot more efficiently.”
Port Melbourne firm 3D Medical used powdered titanium that was heated and fused one layer at a time to print the prosthesis.