Recently, the 3rd National Academic Conference of the Chinese Stomatological Association Committee of Oral and Maxillofacial, Head and Neck Tumors was held in Chengdu. Professor Lai Qingguo, Director of the Oral Medicine Center at the Second Hospital of Shandong University, was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech titled "Exploration of the Practical Application of 3D-printed Implants in Digital Reconstruction of Maxillary Bones." The Team members also presented a poster display.

The conference, themed "Focusing on the Frontier, Exploring the Future," invited numerous experts and scholars, including Academician Zhang Zhiyuan from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Academician Wei Yuquan from West China Hospital of Sichuan University, to deliver brilliant speeches on the forefront of discipline development and clinical research results. The event featured various forms of exchange including keynote speeches, special reports, free discussions, satellite meetings, and poster presentations, establishing a high-level interactive academic platform for the field of Oral and Maxillofacial, Head and Neck Tumor Surgery and related interdisciplinary areas. It stands as the highest-level academic conference in this field in China.

Professor Lai Qingguo shared the team's research achievements on "Exploration of 3D-printed Implants in Digital Reconstruction of Maxillary Bones." Team members Niu Xiao and Lin Wei presented posters at the conference, with the titles "5-Year Follow-up Study on the Application of 3D-printed Titanium Plates in Pediatric Mandibular Segmental Defects" and "Implant-guided Digital Reconstruction of Mandibular Defects," respectively. They provided engaging academic reports and interactive lectures based on real clinical experiences, which received enthusiastic responses from the attendees.

As a doctoral supervisor in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Plastic Surgery at Shandong University, Professor Lai Qingguo focuses on the digital design and structural optimization of 3D-printed implants in the clinical field. He actively promotes the clinical application of digital products and the popularization of digital surgery. With extensive experience in the clinical application of 3D-printed titanium implants, he has innovatively performed over 30 surgeries for reconstructing maxillofacial bone defects using 3D-printed implants. He pioneered the concept of "assembly surgery" for jaw bone reconstruction, which involves using 3D-printed mandible, 3D-printed reconstruction plate, and vascularized fibula graft. This groundbreaking approach has been successfully applied internationally. He also completed the world's first case of 3D-printed "titanium mandible" for repairing pediatric mandibular defects, with a follow-up of over five years. These efforts represent a pioneering exploration and research in the field of large-scale jaw bone repair and reconstruction.In terms of basic research, his focus lies in the development of bioceramic materials and the biomimetic structural design of bone tissue engineering scaffolds for clinical translation. He has successfully developed a hydroxyapatite-based slurry suitable for 3D printing, optimizing its biological and mechanical properties. Based on this, he has successfully fabricated a biomimetic scaffold for large-scale bone regeneration, characterized by three-dimensional morphology, compositional consistency, degradation performance, mechanical strength, porous structure, and excellent biocompatibility. This scaffold demonstrates outstanding potential for large-scale bone regeneration and holds promise for clinical translation in the field of jaw bone regeneration.