Written by Linn Lemón (Linköping University | Department of Biomedical Engineering; Sweden)
Loss of bone in the mandible as a result from for example resection of bone tumors or trauma, can in more complex cases be reconstructed using a reconstruction plate to provide stability between the remaining mandible stumps. Different studies on reconstruction plates present a fracture rate of 2.8-9.8 %. The rate of plate fracture and plate loosening increases the need to improve the design of the reconstruction plate. A useful tool to find new designs for structures is topology optimization.