Digital design of patient-specific abutments for the retention of implant-retained facial prostheses. C Kincade, L McHutchion, J Wolfaardt.

Date: March 2017.
Source: Presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Osseointegration, Orlando, Fla, March 2017 and the 6th Triennial Conference for Advanced Digital Technology in Head and Neck Reconstruction, Amiens, France, May 2017.
Abstract: The present report describes the digital design of patient-specific milled abutments for the retention of osseointegrated facial prostheses by using digital technology. Patient imaging including surface scans of the patient’s head, scans of the patient’s definitive cast, and digitally designed prosthesis prototypes were combined to create a digital simulation of the patient. Using this simulation, patient-specific abutments were digitally designed, printed in 3-dimensions (3D), and finally copy-milled in titanium. This process provided the patient with an optimal abutment design for prosthetic retention, hygiene control, and skin emergence profile.
Article: Digital design of patient-specific abutments for the retention of implant-retained facial prostheses.
Authors: Carolyn Kincade RDT, BTech; Lindsay McHutchion BSc, MS; Johan Wolfaardt BDS, MDent (Prosthodontics), PhD. Institute for Reconstructive Sciences in Medicine, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.