Integration of laser surface digitizing with CAD/CAM techniques for developing facial prostheses. Part 2: Development of molding techniques for casting prosthetic parts.

Purpose: This article presents a novel manufacturing approach that integrates laser surface digitizing/scanning and computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) to achieve automated fabrication of spatially and anatomically accurate extraoral facial prostheses.

Materials And Methods: Contrary to the approach in part 1 for fabricating positive replicas of prostheses, the approaches presented here are focused on designing and producing negative molds of the final prostheses using CAD, rapid prototyping, and rapid tooling techniques. The molds were applied directly to cast the final prostheses, thereby eliminating conventional flasking and investing procedures.

Integration of laser surface digitizing with CAD/CAM techniques for developing facial prostheses. Part 1: Design and fabrication of prosthesis replicas.

Purpose: This article presents a novel manufacturing approach that integrates laser surface digitizing/scanning and computer-aided design (CAD) and manufacturing (CAM) to achieve automated fabrication of spatially and anatomically accurate extraoral facial prostheses.

Materials And Methods: Topologic data of the patient's face, including the site of deformity and the anatomy of a healthy "donor" organ, were acquired using laser surface digitizing. Two different CAD data manipulation techniques were developed to alleviate problems encountered in laser-digitized data sets.