It is easy to be questioned if the phrase "Technology changes lives" as a slogan. However, in the case of 3D printing, this is not just marketing hype. If you don't believe me, just ask Blasin Macvilla. Blasin Macvilla suffered a tragic accident when he was nine years old. Now as a 23-year-old Zimbabwean, he can express his sunny and cheerful character with a big smile. His new face is the result of the joint efforts of Operation of Hope, Sharp Memorial Hospital and 3D Systems.
Help to travel across the ocean
A detonator explosive exploded in Blasin's mouth, severely injuring his upper and lower jaw, tongue, lips and teeth. An organization dedicated to medical support in Zimbabwe, initiated by Jennifer Trubenbach, Chairman of Operation of Hope, discovered his situation. This organization is headquartered in California and specializes in providing surgical care that reshapes lives in areas that are under-served and drug-deficient.
Trubenbach wants to help Brahimla out of trouble.
"He has suffered a great misfortune, but his optimism has infected each of us. He never complains, he is always grateful for life, looking for every hope of life."
Trubenbach hopes that the Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California will help Blasin. The surgeons in this hospital used their wealth of experience to spend 2 years reconstructing Blasin's face and allowing him to have new teeth. Dr. Joel Berger is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. He is in contact with 3D Systems. 3DS is willing to provide Blasin with virtual surgery planning (VSP?).
“We have worked with Dr. Berger and helped him do many pre-planning of different surgeries.” The VSP reconstruction service system belongs to the category of the 3DS health care department. The person in charge Mike Rensberger said, “We have assisted many similar Cases like Xin, from jaw correction, maxillofacial trauma to free fibular flap."
Four-day preparation plan
The initial surgery to reconstruct the upper and lower jaws of Blasin needs to be carefully arranged by Dr. Berger, the hospital team led by Plastic Surgery Dr. James Chao and the 3D Systems team led by Rensberger.
Free fibula flap surgery involves extracting bones, tissues and blood vessels from the fibula, and then reconfiguring them to form the upper and lower jaw connecting the blood vessels in the neck.
Renberger and his team are familiar with this kind of surgery, but in this case, the time is tight: Blasin's flight arrives on Tuesday, and the operation is scheduled on Saturday, only four days later.
Blessing's CT scan arrived at 3D Systems at 10 am on Wednesday morning. The engineers immediately began to extract the 3D anatomical information needed for 3D visualization surgery. Within 2 hours, Sharp Memorial Hospital and the 3D Systems team conducted a web meeting to examine Blasin's medical images. In the course of more than an hour, they worked out a surgical plan.
"When the surgeon was looking at my computer screen and determining the treatment plan from a conference room in San Diego, I was running surgery planning software on the computer in the California office - everything was three-dimensional in real time," Rensberger said.

3D printing assists the surgeon
As the 3D surgery planning progresses, 3D Systems uses a stereo light-curing 3D printer to create models and tools based on Blasin's unique anatomy. The three-dimensional light curing process uses an ultraviolet laser to stack materials layer by layer to form the desired shape.
The virtual surgery planning team used 3D Systems' ProX 800 and ProJet 7000 SLA printers. ProX 800 is well known for its wide range of materials, outstanding surface smoothness, feature resolution, sharp edges and excellent fault tolerance. ProJet 7000 HD is an ideal choice for dental applications. It can provide materials with impact strength and tensile strength, and this material can withstand high temperatures.
Blasin needs the following 3 sets of 3D printing models and tools:
A reconstruction model of the mandible and maxilla that matches the surgical guide. These models are used by surgeons to preset a reconstruction titanium plate before surgery, which can save valuable operating time.
A cutting tool set used to guide the maxilla and fibula of the surgeon's saw blade during surgery.
Mandible model for reference during surgery. These models can show the doctor the structure underneath the soft tissue layer at any time. They can provide doctors with practical experience of Blasin's jaw structure before surgery.