AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB026280294
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Personalized triply periodic minimal surface scaffolds for maxillary bone regeneration: Inverse design, simulation, and stereolithographic fabrication

Christian Cobos Maldonado1†* ,  Santiago Ferrandiz Bou2† ,  Pedro Abril3 ,  Diego Cárdenas4 ,  Luis Garzon3†*
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1 Research Group in New Materials and Transformation Processes, Mechanical Engineering Program, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca, Azuay , Ecuador
2 Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Research Institute for Materials Technology, Universitat Politècnica de València, València, València , Spain
3 Research Group in Physics, Mechanical Engineering Program, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca, Azuay , Ecuador
4 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hospital San Juan de Dios, Cuenca, Azuay , Ecuador
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
Received: 8 July 2026 | Revised: 22 July 2026 | Accepted: 30 July 2026 | Published online: 3 August 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Reconstruction of maxillary bone defects remains challenging because patient-specific scaffolds must combine anatomical conformity, interconnected porosity, and adequate mechanical performance. This study describes a method of designing and producing patient-specific scaffold prototypes for bone tissue regeneration by means of reverse engineering techniques and triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures to create a tissue scaffold-type implant. A 3D bone defect model was reconstructed from Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) tomographic images of an actual clinical case. Five scaffold variants were designed on Meshmixer and nTop™ computer-aided design software, each variant with a different TPMS topology (Gyroid, Schwarz P, Diamond, Lidinoid, and Split P), while maintaining a constant cell size of 1 mm and a wall thickness of 0.16 mm. The scaffolds’ behavior under a compressive load of 698 N was computationally evaluated using finite element analysis, in which the Lidinoid and Schwarz P structures exhibited the least deformation. The scaffolds were fabricated by stereolithography, and a morphological analysis identified interconnected porosity and pore dimensions of 100–500 µm, conditions considered optimal for cell infiltration and vascularization. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of a proof-of-concept workflow for designing and fabricating patient-specific TPMS scaffold prototypes and identify topology-dependent differences in their predicted mechanical response and visible pore morphology. Further studies using clinically suitable osteoconductive and bioresorbable materials are required before considering implantation.

Keywords
Triply periodic minimum surface
Tissue engineering
Bone regeneration
Additive manufacturing
Finite element analysis
Photopolymer resin
Funding
This research was supported by the Research Council of the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (Grant No. 006-003-2023-06-08).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing