[CAD/CAM assisted facial epithesis: Clinical and technical aspects]

The face is an important part of the human body from an anatomical, functional, aesthetic and psychosocial point of view. It can be the site of several mutilations resulting from trauma, treatment of neoplasms and congenital malformations. The plastic facial prosthesis is therefore indicated to restore these facial deformities and to compensate for the various consequences. Recently, digital technologies have shown an increasing impact on the future of maxillofacial rehabilitation. Computer-aided design and manufacturing technique enabled practitioners to acquire numerical data, perform three-dimensional reconstructions, and then materialize and manufacture the facial epithesis through various manufacturing processes, by addition or subtraction. The aim of this article is to describe, through a clinical case, the steps of realization of a nasal epithesis by CAD/CAM, in a patient who underwent a surgical exeresis of the nasal pyramid following a squamous cell carcinoma. Thus, the clinical and technical aspects are highlighted, as follows, the taking of the impression, the materials used, the set-up and the make-up, as well as the software and the useful concepts for the computer-assisted realization of a facial plastic prosthesis of the nasal epithesis type. Our therapy will also focus on the interest of the multidisciplinary approach in Maxillofacial Prosthodontics.