A Point-of-Care Digital Workflow for 3D Printed Passive Presurgical Orthopedic Plates in Cleft Care

Abstract

Cleft lip and palate are one of the most common congenital craniofacial malformations. As an initial treatment, presurgical orthopedics is considered standard treatment at many cleft centers. Digital impressions are becoming feasible in cleft care. Computer-aided design (CAD) and three-dimensional (3D) printing are manufacturing standards in dentistry. The assimilation of these technologies has the potential to alter the traditional workflow for the fabrication of customized presurgical orthopedic plates. We present a digital workflow comprising three steps: 3D digital image acquisition with an intraoral scanner, open-source CAD modeling, and point-of-care 3D printing for the fabrication of personalized passive presurgical plates for newborns with cleft lip and palate. The digital workflow resulted in patient-related benefits, such as no risk of airway obstruction with quicker data acquisition (range 1–2.5 min). Throughput time was higher in the digital workflow 260–350 min compared to 135 min in the conventional workflow. The manual and personal intervention time was reduced from 135 min to 60 min. We show a clinically useful digital workflow for presurgical plates in cleft treatment. Once care providers overcome procurement costs, digital impressions, and point-of-care 3D printing will simplify these workflows and have the potential to become standard for cleft care.