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.
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.
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.
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.