An Assistive Mechanical Device for Mandibular Reconstruction

Treatment of mandible tumor usually needs to remove infected mandibular bone and then to reconstruct the large defect with free fibula flaps to restore the shape and physiological functions of the mandible bone [1–4]. In order to restore the native curvature of the mandible, a good presurgical plan and a stable guidance for osteotomies are necessary. Various methods have been developed to improve surgical outcomes. However, most of these procedures lack in precision and efficiency. To improve the surgical outcomes, Rohner, et al. [5] designed a drilling template from the patient's preoperative dental molds for inserting dental implants and performing osteotomies in the fibula. This method could reproduce a bone flap according to the surgeon's plan, but how to make good contact surfaces between the bone flap and the mandible was not mentioned. Strackee, et al. [6] developed a modeling and osteotomy jig system...