Pluripotent cells are creators of almost every mature cell in body, including the keratinocytes and melanocytes of skin. Reprogramming these mature cells to obtain pluripotent cells, and ultimately using them to produce living tissue using living tissue, this can make Facial implants possible.

Grace, an 8 year-old from Zambia, Africa was suffering a craniofacial abnormality with further complications from infections. Though being controlled the infection, surgeons had to find a way to re-form her forehead for which they approached 3D Printed Models using CT scans. Following Virtual Surgical Planning, they finally operated with success.

Icelandic musician Björk has partnered with designer and researcher Neri Oxman on a mask made up of multiple 3D-printed strands that mimic the underlying structure of her own face. The piece was printed by additive manufacturing company Stratasys using a flexible, acrylic-based polymer.

Facial Prototyping has been performed with 3D Systems Model 660 Pro by Dr. Avsar in New York and Rhinoplasty Implants by Dr. Pablo Prichard out of Phoenix which are made of FDA approved material. FACS (Facial Active Coding System) has helped creating the grids for Craniofacial planning to be used for Rhinoplasty Implants.

American Process Inc. (API), an Atlanta-based company dedicated to the development of renewable biomass materials, has entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with Swansea University Medical Schoolin Wales to develop 3D printed cartilage to be used for facial reconstruction. Under this JDA, cells will be blended with various formulations of nano-cellulose scaffold material and 3D-printed into tissues for reconstructive surgery.

BioArchitects announced today the 510(k) clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – FDA, for the company’s 3D printed patient specific titanium cranial/craniofacial plate implant. Starting from CT scan or MRI of the affected area, the image is then imported into a highly sophisticated computer design program, which is used to create a template of the repair that becomes the model from which the 3D printer produces the titanium plate which is the exact fit for the defect.

Jake Reynolds from Glendale was rushed to HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center in Phoenix where doctors found his whole face was crushed like pulp and required Facial Reconstruction. Luckily, Dr. Pablo Prichard was working as the trauma surgeon on the floor who used a high-definition CT scan to develop a 3-D printed implant to reconstruct Reynold’s face.

A team of 3D Printing experts at New York University (NYU) have started creating 3D Printed Masks for Facial Transplants Donors using accurate 3D Printing and Acrylic material. Since it is a tough decision to give up the face of deceased by family members, this 3D Printed Mask will encourage more people to agree to donate the faces of their dying family members for transplant purposes. Using Handheld Scanner to scan donor’s face, and then sending files to large 3D Printer, the final product is made using acrylic-based photopolymer.

7-year-old Isaiah Onassis Goberdhan, son of Barnaby Goberdhan had an aggressive tumor in his palate and nasal cavity and required surgery to remove it and approached Dr. Neha A. Patel, MD, Nortwell Pediatric Otolaryngologist at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. Working with Todd Goldstein, PhD, a Northwell Health Researcher, Dr. Patel create a personalized 3D rendering of Isaiah’s palate, using his CT and MRI scans and Formlabs technology was used to 3D print an anatomical model with the tumor, and one with it removed, in order to help the doctors and the family physically visualize the entire procedure ahead of time.

A 3D Printing Course Additive was released by Researchers from US and Canada, further strengthening the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2018 Hands-On 3D printing course, which aims at creating 3D Printed cranio-maxillofacial (CMF), orthopaedic, and renal cancer models using 3D Printing, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). The image processing was provided by Mimics inPrint, allowing the researchers to fabricate anatomic regions of interest from the DICOM data. Three cases were followed: Pelvic fracture, Mandible tumour and Kidney tumour where 3D printed models were used to plan the pre-operative as well as reduce time and increase efficacy of the surgeries.

German Researchers used SLA 3D Printer to create much realistic model for Case Scenarios based on the CBCT of the maxilla of a real patient that imitated several traumatic dental injuries, which was then used in a hands-on training course on Dental traumatology for undergraduate students in their final year in the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology in Munich, Germany. While half of the students were provided with access to dentaltraumaguide.org, the others didn’t. The students were then evaluated, where 57% reported it to be ‘very realistic’ and 43% choosing ‘rather realistic’, therefore concluding that 3D Printed Dental Models assisted students in correctly managing traumatic dental injuries.