TITAMED® Titanium Mini System
THE SYSTEM. Made for surgeons by surgeons. The system has been extended over the last 20 years but basically did not change. It has become the standard system for many of us.
Launched in 1984, it was designed in the first place for osteotomies and reconstructive surgery in the face. Not surprisingly, the system proved to work just as well for fracture treatment. It is a simple, efficient, multipurpose set, extremely user-friendly and reliable. Recently we reorganized the set in an inox mesh container. The box is virtually indestructible and dishwasher-proof.
THE MATERIAL. The titanium material quality chosen for the bone plates is a medical grade I. Most other companies use grade III, which is a much harder material. The reason for this choice is that in Lefort I osteotomies, our aim is not to obtain absolute rigidity in the fixation, but rather a semi-rigid fixation. This makes some setting and final tuning of the occlusion possible during the days after surgery. In addition, the plates are more easily bent to the shape of the bones, without rebound.
Thousands of osteotomies have been performed with these plates over the last twenty years. After we brought the system to the market in 1984, the surgeons who started using our system back then are still among our customers today.
THE CARTRIDGE. TITAMED® was also the first on the market (1984!) to deliver all screws and plates on a delrin cartridge with a transparent and open polusulfone cover. The cartridges are directly placed in the container system. They are re-sterilised within the container until finished and are then considered disposable. In this way any contaminating manipulation of the material is avoided. Screws and plates are positioned on the cartridges under laminary flow conditions after the cleaning process of the material. They are packaged in a double peel pack, making them directly ready for sterilisation. This double peel pack is placed in a plastic bag and vacuum sealed for long-term storage.
THE SCREWS. The self-tapping screws are the heart of the system and unique in many aspects. Compared to other systems the screws have a number of obvious advantages.
An overview of the unique features:
- The screw has an excellent grip on the bone, even in cases where the bone is thinner than 0.5mm (Lefort I!).
- The sloping thread prevents stripping through the bone. An emergency screw is therefore unnecessary.
- Stable fixation of a Lefort I osteotomy can be obtained by means of 8 screws instead of the 16 screws advised in all other systems. This obviously cuts the cost for the patient.
- Additionally, the accurate ten-point crenation of the screw head enables the screw’s flawless and instant transfer from the cartridge to the wrench screwdriver (IT.0142) into the bone.
LEFORT I
Most surgeons use the 1mm blue anodized plates (e.g B.802, B.803, B.804) with the low profile gold anodized screws (G.004, G.005, G.006). The bone plates have appropriate contours and the screws are sunk into the plate’s profile (1mm) ❶.
Some surgeons still prefer the 0.6mm mesh plates (A.102, A.103, A.104 with screws A.004, A.005, A.006) for the upper jaw and genioplasty fixation. They provide slightly more freedom (round screw in a square hole, with no micro-movement due to the well-known cold-welding characteristics of titanium). On the other hand the profile as a whole - screws on the plate - becomes a bit thicker.
BSO
For sagittal-split osteotomy, most surgeons prefer the use of a screw fixation with the A- or B-series of screws (A.008, A.010, A.012, A.014) ❷. Some surgeons still prefer blue plate fixation with gold screws.
GENIOPLASTY
For genioplasty, screw fixation is the simplest method by far whenever possible (A014, A.016, A.018). Use of the titanium tapper (IT.0141) is essential. ❸.
For setback or extrusion genioplasty, the plates or meshes do extremely well, leaving room for a certain degree of final setting. (2 plates B.802, B.803, B.804 with screws G.004, G.005, G.006 or 2 meshes A.102, A.103, A.104 with screws A.004, A.005, A.006).
THE WASHER. (F.WASHER - 1/pkg or 6/pkg). The washer provides a good solution whenever you need to use a micro-screw with a larger mini-plate. The washer is a small titanium cup fitting exactly into the concavity of the G- or B-series bone plates. In its centre a small hole receives the 1.2 mm screw. An indication for its use is the fixation of a small bone graft in a Lefort I extrusion osteotomy.
Another example is an upper jaw fracture with many fragmented bone pieces. Such bone pieces are often small and G screws too large.
