It ’s official : we ’re one step closer to cyborg awesomeness . After four age of research by the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Dutch Mobius 3D Technology ( M3DT ) , a Ti lower jaw has been successfully implant into a forefront and neck Crab patient .

The mandible was reconstruct from the patient role ’s 3D MRI and CT scan , making it a perfect paroxysm in its new boney home base .

This is a major step in the discourse of head and neck Crab , a disease which affectsas many as600,000 the great unwashed every year . For most hoi polloi , especially those whose Crab is caught too soon , the treatment isfairly minimum surgery , sometimes using lasers , or irradiation therapy .

For some , though , more fast-growing action is demand , and part of the lowly jaw must be removed . As you might look , this can have a monumental impact on the patient ’s life , since it renders them ineffective to speak , chew , and other essential actions – not to mention being quite noticeable from an aesthetic vantage point .

To report for this , surgeon will construct the jaw with bone from elsewhere in the body – usuallyfrom the fibula , in the lower ramification . But this is n’t always possible : about three in 10 patient are take for ineligible for the function due to existing vascular issues .

Even when it is an option , the procedure can have significant drawback . It ’s a retentive and complex surgical operation , endure up to 12 hours on average and requiring extremely technical procedure to tie in up the aboriginal and implant rip vessels . The bone will also ask to be shaped to tally your jaw and stitched into place .

For those who ca n’t have the giver bone cognitive operation , the solution is a titanium implant . Unfortunately , until now , it ’s not been a particularly fancy one : the patient role receive just a titanium shell , and a local or regional tissue transfer to bridge over the defect .

These , too , do problem : in 40 percent of face , they end up breaking through mucous membrane or skin in the mouth , and the screws attaching the plate can come idle .

That ’s why this new 3D - print jaw is so important . Not only is it the pure shape and free weight to conform to the affected role ’s anatomy – without involve the loss of a shin ivory to create it – but it ’s also much stronger than the titanium plates currently used . That ’s partly because of an improved fastening technique , but it ’s also due to a new mesh structure placed on the inside of the implant which adds strength while keeping the weight of the anatomical structure down to about that of bone .

“ Because the implant is custom - made , the jaw retains its fit and imperativeness on the overlying mucous membrane or skin is distributed more equally , ” the Netherlands Cancer Institute pronounce in astatement . “ We trust this will lessen complications and improve functional and aesthetic resultant . ”

“ Even the prick the sawbones uses in the mathematical operation are patient role - specific , ” they added . “ The process is also simpler and shorter . ”

This is only the first success , but the surgeons and engineer behind the titanium jaw expect it to be wide usable within the next two class . Meanwhile , research is being set about to inflate this unexampled proficiency , to provide implants for elsewhere in the expression and skull .