83-Year-Old Woman Gets New 3D-Printed Titanium Jaw

arnodf writes "The University of Hasselt (in Belgium) announced today (Google translation of Dutch original) that Belgian and Dutch scientists have successfully replaced an 83-year-old woman's lower jaw with a 3D-printed model. According to the researchers, 'It is the first custom-made implant in the world to replace an entire lower jaw. ... The 3D printer prints titanium powder layer by layer, while a computer controlled laser ensures that the correct particles are fused together. Using 3D printing technology, less materials are needed and the production time is much shorter than traditional manufacturing. The artificial jaw is slightly heavier than a natural jaw, but the patient can easily get used to it."

Comments

How do they attach muscle/tendons to titanium?

[vyvepe]

How do they attach muscle/tendons to titanium?

Re:How do they attach muscle/tendons to titanium?

[Anonymous Coward]

From what I understand of the jaws anatomy, it's essentially cradled inside a basket of muscles, those allow it to open/close. The tendon attachment, however, is tricky, as titanium forms a bond with bone (which grows around it) and not with tendons or ligaments.

Re:almost true

[trout007]

I got a (4 Interesting) so I'll continue.

There are a couple of mechanical properties that you can generalize for a metal regardless of alloy type.

Density is pretty consistent. Aluminum is about .09 lb/in^3, Titanium .16 lb/in^3, and Steels .28 lb/in^3

But the most important one is Young's Modulus. This is basically how stiff a material is so higher is stiffer.
Aluminum is 10 Mpsi
Titanium is 16 Mpsi
Steel is 29 Mpsi

What is really freaky is that the Young's Modulus numbers are almost identical to the in proportion to the densities.