Virtual bending of titanium reconstructive plates for mandibular defect bridging: review of three clinical cases

The reconstruction of acquired mandibular defects due to ablative tumor surgery or traumatic injuries is still challenging. The gold standard in such treatment is application of reconstructive titanium plates, which should be contoured and adapted to the defect as much as possible because of their influence on postoperative functional and esthetic results. Traditionally, plate bending is achieved by trial and error intraoperatively. Use of stereolitography (STL) models potentially could reduce the risk of incorrect contouring as well as operating time. On the other hand, fabrication of STL is time-consuming and costly. However, we found only one experimental study dedicating to virtual plate bending in the literature. The aim of this article was to demonstrate clinical application of a method of virtual bending of reconstructive plate for mandibular defect bridging. No significant complications occurred, and satisfactory functional and esthetic results were achieved in all cases. We found this technique precise and applicable in cases of reconstruction of mandibular defects.