Plastics gets personal for PN reporter

This holiday season, I have a personal reason to be thankful for the world of plastics.

On Aug. 1, my 17-year-old son Dane had major reconstructive surgery on his jaw. Dane was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate and has needed several surgeries over the years. Hopefully, this will be his last major one.

To prepare for the surgery, Dr. Anand Kumar of University Hospitals of Cleveland used three 3D plastic models made by 3D Systems Inc. of Rock Hill, S.C. These models were made using x-rays of Dane's jaw and allowed Dr. Kumar to decide what needed to be done and how to do it.

The surgery took several hours and Dane was in the hospital for several days afterward. Dr. Kumar has said the surgery was a success and that he's happy with the results.

The changes to Dane's face are clearly visible. Both parts of his jaw now are even, whereas before his lower jaw was more pronounced. I asked Dr. Kumar about the process in an email, and he responded that he often uses medical modeling.

“There is great evidence that [virtual surgical planning] has greatly decreased pre-surgery preparation time and improved reproducibility in multi-segment jaw surgery,” he wrote. Dr. Kumar added that modeling “is also a great patient education tool.”

3D Systems is a pioneer in the field of 3D printing and has done medical modeling for more than 25 years, said Nicole York, the company's public relations director. The firm works on thousands of oral surgery cases each year, she added.

For Dane's surgery prep, 3D provided Dr. Kumar with planning services, as well as splints and three mandible models made of clear plastic. One of the splints was made with a grade of Somos BioClear resin made by DSM NV. The other splints and models were made with specialty resins developed by 3D Systems.

The models were printed on a ProX 800 3D printer. Dane was allowed to keep the model of his jaw after the surgery. It's a kind of purple-pink color, but clear.

And it's also a great example of how plastics can be used to improve people's lives every day.