Prosthodontic Rehabilitation using Imaging and Prototyping

A considerable number of people are afflicted with some degree of facial defect or anomaly each year. Persons with severe defects involving partial or total loss of facial organs may be subjected to disturbances psychologically, socially, and economically. Advancements in modern surgical procedures, instruments, and equipment have provided some individuals with maxillofacial defects with new opportunities to be rehabilitated into society through corrective, restorative or plastic surgery. Although corrective surgery is capable of restoring some lost tissue and the physical appearance of a patient to satisfactory levels, surgery may not be the ideal choice of treatment because of patient age, medical condition, large defects or preference. This review encompasses the description and application of newer maxillofacial imaging technologies and rapid prototyping techniques in intraoral and extraoral defects. It aims to highlight the vast scope of these procedures in changing the face of modern prosthetic rehabilitation.