INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana University School of Dentistry-led team at IUPUI has dramatically cut the length of time it takes to make artificial facial parts, giving its latest patient a new tip for his nose in a matter of hours. The team has refined its use of digital technology to the point where it "can make a thought into a thing very quickly," said the team's leader, Dr. Travis Bellicchi, a fourth-year maxillofacial prosthodontics resident.

View print quality image Jerry Faber, without and with his nose prosthesis.

"The digital workflow allows us to move much faster," Bellicchi said. "We capture the facial geometry with an LED structured light scanner. That happens in a matter of seconds. So you instantly have a three-dimensional volumetric representation of the patient's face in a digital form, upon which you can virtually sculpt a prosthesis using organic modeling software." Jerry Faber of Osgood, Indiana, received the nose prosthesis. He used one word to describe it: "Wonderful." Faber lost part of his nose to cancer. After three failed plastic surgeries, Faber said, "I was done. I couldn't take being cut on anymore." He was referred to Bellicchi and "hoped for the best." Faber received the nose prosthesis in less than 24 hours after his first visit to Bellicchi. "I'm just flabbergasted," Faber said. "A lot of people don't even notice it. It's fake, but it looks so real." The fabrication of a prosthesis begins with facial scanning, moves to digital design and ends with 3-D printing. "We are unique in the sense that we commit completely to the digital workflow for every new prosthesis patient," Bellicchi said. "This is the way I work now. It's not a backup plan, not an alternative option."

View print quality image Travis Bellicchi, left, has a light moment with Jerry Faber.