Prothèse maxillofaciale et conception et fabrication assistées par ordinateur (CFAO)

Abstract

Acquired or congenital loss of structure can cause facial deformity. This may result in destroyed identity and certain forms of exclusion. In these cases, surgical reconstruction and sometimes prosthetic reconstruction are required. Maxillofacial prosthesis refers to the art and science of artificial reconstruction of facial bones. There is a continual increase in patient demand for this type of prosthesis with the development of new materials, methodologies and techniques. New technologies such as the Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) make possible nowadays to combine the advantages of traditional facial prosthesis and the potential of Rapid Prototyping, resulting in an improvement in terms of time and quality. Therefore the practitioner can concentrate on his main task which is to optimise individually created facial prosthesis. This new concept of maxillofacial prosthesis should find its place in medicine given the overall scope of rehabilitations that it makes available, in terms of aesthetic and psychology as well, but above all in terms of functional perspective.