3D Printed Models for Wisdom Teeth Surgery Planning

An interesting article titled “Physical Simulation Models in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: A New Concept in 3-Dimensional Modeling for Removal of Impacted Third Molars,” written by Cervenka et al. appears in the 2019 edition of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The article describes creating three-dimensional (3D) printed models for wisdom teeth surgery planning for particular use in residency training. The authors discuss how advances in 3D design and printing along with decreases in costs are making the use of surgical simulation models an option for clinical training. This can have particular use with residency training because of caps on the amount of hours residents can work and increasingly patients not wanting residents to participate in their surgeries. In the article the authors present a design and fabrication of a reusable 3D printed lower jaw model with a reconfigurable … Read more

3D Printing for Impacted Wisdom Teeth

An interesting article titled “The use of 3D model planning in the management of impacted teeth” written by Scott et al. appears in the 2018 edition of Oral Surgery (vol. 11, pp. 125-130). The article discusses using surgical planning using a 3D printed model for removal of an impacted wisdom tooth in a 61 year old man. 3D printing for wisdom teeth removal has been discussed on this site before see the post 3D Printed Models for Wisdom Teeth Surgery Planning. In the article by Scott a discussion is made of how computed tomography scans can be taken of the mouth to determine the exact position of a lower wisdom tooth in relation to the inferior alveolar nerve. Using stereo lithography it is then possible to manufacture 3D printed models from the scans. This allows one to simulate the exact … Read more