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Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (NewsVoir)
SIMS Hospital, Vadapalani a reputed multi-specialty hospital in Chennai, has successfully performed rare surgeries of total jaw joint replacement using 3D-printed as well as readymade jaw joints for three patients, recently.
Dr. K. Sridhar, Director, Institute of Craniofacial, Aesthetic & Plastic Surgery, SIMS Hospital, said, “We have performed total jaw joint replacement for three different patients. In one patient, who had zero mouth opening following a jaw surgery done elsewhere, the damaged jaw bone part was replaced with an artificial part made of titanium metal.
The same was done for the second patient who had complete ‘ankylosis’ (immobile joint) of temporomandibular joint (TM joint), which acts like a sliding hinge, connecting jawbone to skull. This patient also had the complaints of sleep apnoea (snoring and sleep disorder due to less oxygenation) and hypoplasia of jaw bone (smaller than normal jaw bone). For this patient, first the jaw bone was lengthened with distraction and later total joint replacement was performed.
The third patient had a bone tumour, for which the entire one half of the jaw, the TM joint and the adjoining facial bones were removed about 20 years ago. This patient required a custom made jaw joint for replacement. Since no bone was available to fix the joint, the total jaw joint was replaced with artificial jaws made of titanium and polyethylene using 3D printing technology. Since this patient required teeth on one half we also took leg bone and did microsurgery and put in a dental implant also at the same time.”
All the patients now have very good mouth opening. The two patients who were not able to open their mouths at all are on solid food after many years. The third patient with a custom made joint is waiting for the fixing of the teeth on the implant.