A novel technique for fabricating facial prosthetic model

In the early days, patients with facial trauma had to endure the claustrophobic nightmare of having liquid plaster poured onto their faces while holding their breath. This was performed to take the impression, and thus make the cast of the maxillofacial deformities. Today, patients can escape the uncomfortable experience due to the development of computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies. While they are highly commendable for their applications and usage, sometimes cases involving facial anatomy restoration may not necessary require these highly sophisticated technologies. A suitable replacement that is also non-contact, and allows fast image capture is the laser digitizer surface scanner. This scanner takes only seconds to capture images of the patient's sound/healthy facial anatomy. By using the captured image data, it is possible, with the help of a surface data modeller, Rapid Prototyping (RP) machine and vacuum casting machine to manufacture the prosthesis for implant. It should be noted that prosthetic manufacturing is a very complex and delicate design environment. Aesthetically matching and comfort of the prosthesis play a leading role to the success of prosthetic implants. This paper presents a novel approach for facial prosthesis making through a case study of making a prosthetic ear model following the integrated system methodology.