Materialise recently launched its Personalized TMJ Total Arthroplasty System, a solution to treat patients requiring total temporomandibular joint (TMJ) arthroplasty. It’s a unique solution that combines implants, guides, and digital planning to streamline patient-specific TMJ treatment, all sourced from a single company. This new solution provides a personalized treatment for patients facing severe TMJ complications that require a joint replacement.
The TMJ is where the skull and jawbone meet, enabling the jaw to open and close. A clinical study with patients who have already received the personalized TMJ prosthesis showed improvement in their quality of life, pain levels, satisfaction, and eating ability compared to pre-surgery, with accurate implant placement reported in 97% of cases. Within the same clinical study, clinicians reported a 100 percent success rate for the TMJ system one year after surgery.
Materialise’s TMJ system is based on a fully digital process, ensuring efficiency and accuracy based on the patient’s anatomy. Clinicians work with Materialise’s experienced clinical engineers, who perform the digital planning process in close collaboration with the surgeon. The entire solution is sourced from Materialise, making it compatible with the company’s full personalized cranio-maxillofacial (CMF) solutions and expanding access to personalized treatment.
The digitalized workflow starts with a patient’s CT scan and dental information. During an interactive online session, a Materialise clinical engineer supports the treating physician in surgical planning and device design. As soon as planning and device design has been finalized, Materialise manufactures the personalized TMJ implant in its facilities, providing the surgeon with implants and instruments for surgery.
Materialise’s personalized TMJ Total Arthroplasty System is currently available to surgeons in Europe, the UK, and Brazil*, and additional information about the solution can be found here.
This most recent announcement comes on the heels of the company’s opening of a new medical 3D printing facility in the U.S. The new facility in Plymouth, Michigan specializes in the 3D printing of personalized titanium CMF implants used in facial reconstructive surgery. Until the facility’s opening in August, Materialise manufactured titanium CMF implants solely at its 3D printing facility in Belgium. It can now respond to surgeons’ needs with reduced delivery time of personalized implants to hospitals across the U.S.
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*In Brazil, the prosthesis is placed on the market by a subsidiary of Materialise as legal manufacturer, registered and available as TMJ Arthroplasty System patient-matched.