Making faces – when dentistry met advanced manufacturing
Professor Richard Van Noort, of the School of Clinical Dentistry, is working with Sheffield colleagues in Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing to produce the next generation of bespoke, individually tailored dental and facial prostheses.
It is likely that many of us will need some sort of dental treatment over the course of our lives, ranging from fillings and crowns to more radical procedures such as titanium implants for reconstructive surgery to replace lost bone. If you need to be fitted with an implant to replace missing bone, current technology employs a process known as stereolithography, whereby a CT scanner builds up a model of your jaw, which is then reproduced physically using layer upon layer of resin. The prosthesis can then be shaped to fit you using the resin model, which is an exact replica of your jaw.
Professor van Noort and Mr Wildgoose, a dental technologist, joined forces to develop bespoke implants and produced what they believe is the world's first bespoke hand crafted all-titanium jaw joint, which was successfully implanted into a patient by Sheffield maxillofacial surgeon Sean Ward. Whilst this process does produces the required result, it is expensive and time-consuming.
To address this, Professor van Noort and Mr Wildgoose drew on the world-leading expertise of the University's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). They teamed up with oral surgeon Dr Julian Yates, metallurgist Dr Iain Todd and mechanical engineer Professor Rob Dwyer Joyce to develop new methods for producing individually tailored dental prostheses using advanced manufacturing technologies, as opposed to crafting them by hand on a case-by-case basis.
Professor Van Noort explains: "Our approach involves combining advances in digital data acquisition and processing with advanced manufacturing technologies and applying these in oral and maxillofacial reconstructive surgery. In this way we are developing new methods, which provide numerous opportunities in medicine, and have not as yet been fully exploited. With the growing use of MRI and CT imaging systems and the recent introduction of a new range of layered fabrication techniques, there exists an opportunity for a step change in health care with the rapid manufacture of bespoke prostheses tailored to an exact patient specification".
The team are also applying this advanced manufacturing approach to soft tissue prostheses, for example ears and noses. Using 3D CAD modelling, Professor Van Noort and the team are able to print replacement soft tissue prostheses using state-of-the-art machine printers. Although at a very early stage, this strand of the project has received funding of £500,000 from the Wellcome Trust.
Professor Van Noort again: "This is an exciting opportunity to advance the digital evolution in oral and maxillofacial surgery and turn it into a digital revolution by bringing together the expertise which already exists at the University of Sheffield and the AMRC. Our aim is to work towards developing a centre of excellence in digital data acquisition, processing and advanced manufacturing technologies for oral and maxillofacial applications".
For further information please contact Professor Richard van Noort at:
email : r.vannoort@sheffield.ac.uk