Global engineering technologies company Renishaw (www.renishaw.com) has collaborated with the University Dental Hospital of Wales (UDH) in Cardiff to overcome some of the challenges associated with surgical implants.

UDH has previously used Renishaw’s additive-manufacturing (AM) services to make a series of dental products, including cobalt chrome frameworks.

However, the hospital has also been using AM to produce custom maxillofacial implants and surgical guides, using custom-made devices can reduce surgery time considerably; unlike standard ‘off the shelf’ implants, each device is designed to fit the particular patient.

Ed Littlewood, marketing manager of Renishaw’s Medical and Dental Products Division, said: “AM allows hospitals to achieve high precision when producing implants.

"By collaborating with Renishaw, UDH is developing its maxillofacial implants further, seeing improvements with each case and helping a wider range of patients and surgeons across different departments.”

Roger Maggs, senior chief dental technologist at UDH, said: “Several hospitals are reaping the benefits of additive manufacturing in implant production.

"We have the advantage of having worked with Renishaw for three years in the dental field.

"This has put us ahead of the game and in a position where we can now start thinking about producing more-advanced designs that will benefit our surgeons.”