Innovative treatment coupled with 3D tech saves St. Louis boy's jaw
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Derrion Smith, 13, was in a familiar chair at the St. Louis Dental Center on Thursday. He was getting a final checkup before “graduating” from a 12-month surgery intensive stretch all over a cyst in his mouth.
“I had this nasty taste coming from my gums. I realized something was off. It didn’t feel right when I was brushing,” Derrion said.
The root of the story goes back a couple of years, when a teacher called Smith’s mother, T’Sheka, complaining that the young man was chewing candy in class. Here’s the thing, Derrion never was eating candy.
“I was sitting in class,” Smith explained. “My teacher thought I had candy in my mouth. it was just my jaw getting swollen.”
The concerned mother scheduled a dentist checkup, and sure enough, there was something growing in Derrion’s mouth that required a specialist’s skill.
“It turned out for the best,” T’sheka Smith said.
The referral brought the mother-son duo into the patient room of Dr. Prashanth Haribabu, Director of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health at A.T. Still University
X-rays showed a large lesion that was eating and eroding Smith’s jawbone so large that it would risk jaw fracture.
“The size in which he presented to us was a little bit alarming and something we don’t see very often at that age,” Dr. Haribabu said.
Dr. Haribabu determined Derrion had a rare Odontogenic Keratocyst. Something years earlier would have been diagnosed as a tumor in the medical world. The change in classification meant doctors could prioritize possible methods for treatment.
“In this case, we created a trapped door in his gums, decompressing the balloon and regenerates his natural bone formation,” Dr. Haribabu said.
Dr. Prahanth Haribabu and his team made a plan. They developed a model-assisted marsupialization of a large odontogenic keratocyst in the maxillofacial region using a multicolored 3D-printed model. Basically, take an X-ray of Derrion’s jaw, turn it into a 3D rendering, and print it out for a 1:1 replica of the boy’s jaw for doctors to examine.
Enter Dr. Akshay Vij.
“3D printing has gone from being the future to being the present,” Vij said.
Vij, using his expertise in cutting-edge Advanced Digital Dentistry technology, was able to fabricate a real-life scale model of the patient’s jaw that could be 3D printed.
“This is how the patient’s jaw was before; you see his legion in red,” Dr. Vij explained, holding the 3D-printed model. “You can see how much of his jaw was consumed. This is after multiple surgeries, and it looks pretty much normal. Instead of losing half his jaw, he just lost a tooth.”
Dr. Haribabu was then able to plan his surgical procedure using an accurate, safe, and conservative method, saving the jaw.
“We have had some patients come to us with fractured jaw or lot of infection a lot of pain and discomfort at that time it makes it very difficult to manage and treat these situations,” Dr. Haribabu explained. “We are forced to perform procedures would lead to more reconstruction. That does impact the quality of life.”
“He looks and feels normal,” Dr. Vij shared. “He chews normal. He smiles normally. You can’t tell he went through 12 months of surgery. To have that quality of life for our patients so they can continue and enhance their quality of life that is very rewarding and satisfying.”
Both doctors say this extreme case shows the value of routine dental exams because that simple appointment based on a mother’s intuition resulted in a drastically different outcome for Derrion.
“We were glad we could prevent this catastrophic, disastrous situation for this young boy, which could have been worse,” Dr. Haribabu said.
It was an incredible lesson for these doctors, their students, and, of course, Derrion.
”At the time, I was just trying to stay as confident as possible. Deep in the back of my head, I knew I was in good hands and knew everything would work out,” Smith said.
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