The Ideal Patient-Specific Implant: An Eight Step Design Checklist for Mandibular Class I,II Brown Defects

Patient-specific implants (PSI) are the next frontier in maxillofacial reconstruction, and though autogenous reconstruction of Brown I,II mandibulectomy defects is still the gold standard, the advantages of patient-specific implants, namely being reduced duration of surgery, prediction of failure due to biomechanical accuracy and FEA analysis, make it the prime alternative. However, the lack of standardisation in design leads to complications like wound dehiscence, poor dimensional accuracy and unoptimised biomechanics thus impeding its widespread acceptance among the scientific community.

The authors aimed to address this lacunae in literature and answer the question whether PSI's can be designed through a standardised set of protocols? Through this study, the authors present an eight step checklist to be followed for designing of an ideal standardised patient-specific implant in a Brown I,II mandibular defect not involving the condyle which can serve as a go to guide for the operating and designing team.

PSI's through an optimised designing and manufacturing process can serve as an exciting new treatment modality and an alternative to the gold standard autogenous reconstruction.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12663-025-02502-7.