On Jan. 9, 2025, clinicians from the The University of Queensland (UQ) announced they had successfully used custom-made 3D printed bone scaffolds, printed on-site at UQ, to rebuild part of a man’s jawbone.

Professor Saso Ivanovski from UQ’s School of Dentistry, who led the clinical trial, said the case demonstrated the safe and effective use of the technology which uses biocompatible material – eliminating the need for secondary surgery to remove the scaffold. “In this case, the scaffold supported and encouraged new bone to grow in the jaw of a 46 year-old man, allowing a dental implant with a new tooth to be securely inserted,” Professor Ivanovski said. The research was published in Clinical Oral Implants Research.

Since this initial success, more polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds have been printed at UQ’s Oral Health Centre and used in dental reconstructive surgery on a further 9 patients. The UQ team planned to expand the trial to work with clinicians from around Australia and Spain to optimise the scaffold design so that it can be widely available for patients.