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Updated: Oct 27, 2025
Designing CAD/CAM Surgical Guides for Maxillary Reconstruction Using an In-house Approach
Published on: August 24, 2018
Use of Dental Impression Silicone to Fabricate Simple Surgical Guides in Mandibular Reconstruction∗
Chihiro Matsui1,2, Hiroshi Mizuno1, Nathalie Roche3
1Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo.
Background:
Several recent reports have described the development and use of three-dimensional (3D) printed surgical osteotomy guides. However, these methods: are usually costly. Here, we introduce a novel method of manufacturing surgical guides built from inexpensive, easy-to-use, and sterilizable dental impression silicone.
Methods:
Mandibular and fibular models were prepared using a 3D printer for 10 patients undergoing free fibula flap transfer after mandibular resection. During preoperative simulation surgery, Protesil labor, a dental silicone, was molded to the same size as the fibular models to act as surgical guides.
Results:
The authors compared pre- and post-operative bone angles and bone lengths for all cases using simulation surgery models and postoperative 3D computed tomography. Mean bone angle difference was 2.6° and mean bone length difference was 1.7 mm. Cost of the dental silicone was approximately US$5/patient.
Conclusions:
In our series this method allowed the surgeon to perform an accurate osteotomy, inexpensively and time-efficiently.
