Skip to main content
Additive Manufacturing
Annual report 2016

Sirris gets CADskills' AMSJI jaw implant ready for 3D printing

CADskills, one of the very top producers of medical implants, offers the complete package: research, then design, and finally 3D printing. As part of its efforts to continuously innovate in these areas and take its services to a whole new level, this Ghent start-up works closely with Sirris. One of the most recent projects focused on a subperiosteal jaw implant, called AMSJI.
  • With a view to manufacturing the AMSJI jaw implant using 3D printing, Sirris worked out the best possible geometry for the design.
  • It then conducted an in-depth evaluation of the result in cooperation with CADskills founder and top craniomaxillofacial surgeon Professor Maurice Mommaerts.

 

Established in 2015, Ghent-based start-up CADskills is involved in scientific research surrounding medical implants tailored to the patient and the development, design and manufacturing of these using 3D printing.

Sirris worked out the best possible geometric design for the jaw implant, taking account of a wide range of variables, such as masticatory force and the implantation method.

An implant that fits

The Additively Manufactured Subperiosteal Jaw Implant (AMSJI for short), manufactured using 3D printing, is implanted just under the periosteum (the membrane containing many blood vessels that covers the bone tissue). The surgery, taking less than an hour, is performed under local anaesthetic. Sirris and CADskills worked closely together on the development of the jaw implant so as optimize the 3D-printing design.

Topological optimization

Sirris' Additive Manufacturing team used software to perform a topological optimization. In this way it worked out the perfect geometric design to manufacture the AMSJI using 3D printing. In doing so, nothing was left to chance, with Sirris for example conducting analyses to demonstrate that the implant could withstand sustained chewing. The team also considered the various potential implantation methods. In this light, weak points in the structure of the AMSJI were inserted at specially chosen locations to avoid any biological damage when removing a post from the implant.

In-depth discussions and validation

The results of the topological optimization were examined in detail. After this in-depth validation, a final AMSJI was designed, ready to roll off CADskills' 3D printer.