Comparing different scanning techniques for the design and fabrication of maxillofacial prostheses

Abstract

Facial prosthetics can play a significant role in relieving the psychological impact of patients who have lost facial features due to various causes. Traditional manual techniques of fabricating these prostheses are now largely replaced with modern computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing techniques that utilizes computerized tomography (CT) scanning for determining facial features. The prosthesis is designed from the CT data and molds produced through additive manufacturing (AM) for casting the prosthesis in silicone. Despite CT scanning presenting considerable advantages in acquiring reliable dimensional form and sizes of affected areas, it is not without complications. Key drawbacks are the high costs involved in scanning patients and the availability of these machines, which excludes many patients requiring facial prosthetics from benefitting from this technology. This study aimed to investigate if a three-dimensional (3D) handheld scanner used in healthcare and engineering industries (Artec® Spider®) can be used to generate facial digital data suitable for the fabrication of maxillofacial prostheses. A test model was designed to highlight the strong and weak points of both CT and hand-held scanners and the model was scanned with both. The 3D models generated from the hand-held and CT scanner were compared to the 3D model of the test model generated by a micro-CT scanner and compared to determine accuracy. The study showed that the hand-held scanner produced scans comparable in accuracy to CT scanner but at a much lower cost. This will enable a significant number of patients requiring maxillofacial prosthetic care to be helped.