ears and the centerline are located. The negative impression is then filled with liquid plaster to obtain a positive impression which is the 3-D model of the baby’s head. Accuracy of the negative impression may be in question due to the thin wall of it and the removal process. An orthosis is then fit to the positive impression after making changes to accommodate specific areas of directional growth of the skull. Hard plastic shells are used with soft foam liners as band or helmet materials. Modern methods of fabrication are based on laser scan-
This TP-Range Deflexion technology is based on energy absorbing silicones delivered in sheet form as a result of careful pairing with a thermoplastic material.
ning of babies’ heads. Orthomerica’s STARscanner is the first system to receive FDA clearance. It has two side walls with two eye-safe Class I laser sources on each side and a total of eight cameras. The orthotist places a stockinette cap embedded with sensors on the baby’s head. The cap helps with the scan- ning process and allows specific measurements. The digitiza- tion process takes less than two seconds and is accurate up to 0.5 mm, making it far superior to the previous method.
Protective Materials for Possible Medical Applications Today there are many uses for
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modern protective materials ranging from military to athletic. However, use of protective materials in the medical field is relatively new and there is great potential for growth. Many companies and researchers at universities are finding ways to develop better and bet- ter protective materials to be used in orthoses. Doctors are now prescribing protective braces and pads for patients with transplanted organs, most notably, transplanted kidneys. Below is a sum- mary of different companies and their products that can potentially be used alone or in combination with other ma- terials for such medical applications. Dow Corning (Midland, MI), a mate- rials company, has developed a product called Deflexion. Deflexion is based on textiles, as its scaffold with silicon impregnated into the textile material, allows for flexibility as well as toughness. Thus far, Deflexion comes in a variety of