FIGURE 3.

Assessment of the bone formation performance of 3D-powder printing including various microporosity in the forms of semi-circular grooves and channels in a lapine extraskeletal model. (A): Design A “control” 3D-printed monetite scaffold, (B): Design B and C including a semi-circle shaped groove spanning half the diameter of the scaffold, with the semi-circle in configuration B facing away from the calvarial bone, whilst the semi-circle in configuration C faced the calvarial bone, (C): Design D consisting of an array of eight interconnected channels creating multiple apertures on each surface of the scaffold, (D): surgical fixation of the scaffold, (E): surgical re-entry at 4 weeks post-implantation, (F): removal of the fixation screws, (G): Dental implant placement, (H): appearance of the specimens at 4 weeks post-implant placement. (I–L) Tissue morphology as demonstrated by histology, indicating that the presence of the channels was beneficial to bone formation, although the overall amount of bone tissue was not greatly increased and its distribution remained heterogeneous. Reproduced with permission from (Tamimi et al., 2014).