Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Sep 6, 2019; 7(17): 2587-2596
Published online Sep 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i17.2587
Allogenic tooth transplantation using 3D printing: A case report and review of the literature
Hu-Di Xu, Richard J Miron, Xiao-Xin Zhang, Yu-Feng Zhang
Hu-Di Xu, The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology (Hubei-MOST) and Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine Ministry of Education, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, Hubei Province, China
Richard J Miron, Department of Periodontology, College of Dental Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314-7796, United States
Xiao-Xin Zhang, Yu-Feng Zhang, Department of Oral Implantology, School of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang XX, Xu HD, and Zhang YF contributed to the case report design; Xu HD collected and provided the data; Xu HD and Miron RJ drafted the manuscript; Zhang XX was the principle author of the paper, had full access to all data, and is the guarantor; Zhang YF supervised the report and the publication process; all authors read and confirmed the final version of this article.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81600906, No. 81771050, and No. 81570954; the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, No.2017CFA025; and the National Key R& D Program of China, No. 2018YFC1105300.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was received from the patient for the publication of the report and accompanying images. The patient read the submitted version of the report and confirmed its content.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest involved.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Xin Zhang, DDS, MD, PhD, Academic Research, Attending Doctor, Doctor, Surgeon, Teacher, Department of Oral Implantology, Wuhan University, 237 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, Hubei Province, China. zhangxiaoxin@whu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-27-87686600 Fax: +86-27-87686600
Received: April 11, 2019
Peer-review started: April 12, 2019
First decision: May 31, 2019
Revised: June 25, 2019
Accepted: July 20, 2019
Article in press: July 20, 2019
Published online: September 6, 2019
Processing time: 148 Days and 6.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The history of allogenic tooth transplantation can be traced back to the 16th century. Although there have been many successful cases, much needs to be better understood and researched prior to the technique being translated to everyday clinical practice.

CASE SUMMARY

In the present report, we describe a case of allogenic tooth transplantation between a mother and her daughter. The first left maxillary molar of the mother was diagnosed with residual root resorption and needed to be extracted. The 3rd molar of the daughter was used as a donor tooth. Prior to transplantation, a 3D printing system was introduced to fabricate an individualized reamer drill specifically designed utilizing the donor’s tooth as a template. The specific design of our 3D printed bur allowed for the recipient site to better match the donor tooth. With the ability to 3D print in layers, even the protuberance of the root can be matched and 3D printed, thereby minimizing unnecessary bone loss.

CONCLUSION

Our study is a pioneering case combining 3D printing with allogenic tooth transplantation, which could be able to minimize unnecessary bone loss and improve the implant stability. This article aims to enhance our understanding of allogenic tooth transplantation and 3D printing, and may potentially lead to tooth transplantation being utilized more frequently - especially since transplantations are so commonly utilized in many other fields of medicine with high success rates.

Keywords: Transplantation; Allografts; Dental implants; 3D printing; Case report

Core tip: The history of allogenic tooth transplantation can be traced back to the 16th century. Although there have been many successful cases, much needs to be better understood and researched prior to the technique being translated to everyday clinical practice. Our study is a pioneering case combining 3D printing with allogenic tooth transplantation, which could be able to minimize unnecessary bone loss and improve the implant stability. What’s more, a review of the previous relevant research and the potential future avenues of research related to the novel introduction of 3D printing for tooth transplantation cases was performed.