Shirley Anderson of Indiana was in great demand of a prosthesis .

Doctors found a cancerous lump on his knife in the 1998 and presently after , he began radiation treatments . He underwent a radium implant to help him replace some of his low-spirited jaw , but it did n’t sour . So he reverse to prosthetics .

Dr. Travis Bellicchi , a maxillofacial prosthodontia occupant at Indiana University , made the gentleman a traditional prosthesis out of clay , but it was so large and uncomfortable that Anderson could only wear it for four hr at a fourth dimension . So , Bellicchi started looking for a digital answer and eventually plough to 3D printing process .

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According toFormlabs , a digital model of Anderson ’s face was make to capture bone item , so that investigator could screen a much light prosthetic equipment for their patient role .

The results are middling astounding . We ’ve fuck about exchangeable technique , including using 3D printing tocreate low-priced artificial limb , along with attempt such as with a man whoreceived a new facein 2013 . However , with Anderson , researchers , including Bellicchi and scholar Cade Jacobs , have create a new work flow that can create newfangled body parts in a little amount of time . It ’s call the “ Shirley Technique ” and it combines digital and traditional approaching to prosthetic machine product .

According toIndiana University , researchers used 3D printing to create a mould of the face . The negative space where Anderson ’s chin and jaw would be is then used to create a prosthetic equipment that is more naturalistic , lighter , and make a more lifelike break around the boundary .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

“ My motivation to use traditional material is that they are predictable , they are biocompatible , they have inquiry behind them , and we cognize how to do the characterization to make them lifelike , ” Bellicchitold the university .

Researchers added that so far , the method acting has been used on six other patients , including a man who meet a new auricle in just six hebdomad .

Check out the results below .

William Duplessie

[ MentalFlossviaFastCoDesign ]

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