Maxfacts

This section covers craniofacial implants that is; implants which act as ‘anchors’ for prosthetic replacements for ears, eyes and noses. Dental implants are considerably more technically demanding, as they have both the challenging environment of the mouth and the functional loads of biting and chewing to cope with.

Craniofacial implants generally have shorter lengths as the depth of bone into which they can be inserted is limited (having a titanium screw connecting the brain to a plastic ear would not have a good long-term prognosis).

Craniofacial implants may be adapted with either magnets or retentive buttons, or in some instances custom fitted bars to provide retention and anchorage points for the ear, eye or nasal prosthesis being used.

The fact that these replacement body parts can be fabricated in the laboratory means that very high standards of aesthetics can be achieved (considerably better than that by surgery using autologous body parts such as cartilage and skin to rebuild these missing body parts). Craniofacial implants are, of course, non-functional.