Personalized TPMS scaffolds for maxillary bone regeneration: Inverse design, simulation, and stereolithographic fabrication
This paper describes a method of designing and producing patient-specific scaffold prototypes for bone tissue regeneration by means of reverse engineering techniques and triply periodic minimum surface (TPMS) structures to create a tissue scaffold-type implant. A 3-D bone defect model was reconstructed from DICOM tomographic images of an actual clinical case. Five scaffold variants were designed on Meshmixer and nTop™ computer-aided design (CAD) 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’ behaviour under a compressive load of 698 N was computationally evaluated using finite element analysis (FEA) in which the Lidinoid and Schwarz P structures were found to exhibit the least deformation. The scaffolds were fabricated by stereolithography (SLA) and a morphological analysis was performed in which interconnected porosity and pore dimensions of between 100 µm and 500 µm were identified, 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.
