Advanced technology and the future of facial prosthetics in head and neck reconstruction.

Facial prosthetics has a long history that extends back to ancient man. The course of facial prosthetics has altered over time as improvement in surgical techniques and materials arrived. The need for facial prosthetics presumably also altered over time with social changes and changes in disease management. The past century has brought several remarkable changes that influenced the delivery of facial prosthetic care. After the Second World War, the availability of acrylic resins had a major impact on facial prosthetics, as did the rapid advances made by reconstructive surgery. This was followed by the introduction of silicone elastomers in the 1960s. By the late 1970s, silicone elastomers were in widespread use in facial prosthesis construction. The introduction of osseointegrated implants into facial prosthetic care emerged in the 1980s and was in widespread international use by the early 1990s. As remarkable as these developments were, perhaps even more notable is that the fundamental techniques used to design and construct facial prostheses remain unchanged. For over half a century we have become adept at optimizing every possible potential of available materials to enhance treatment outcomes with facial prosthetics. As laudable as these endeavours are, little progress has been made in advancing fundamental techniques employed in facial prosthesis design and construction. To realise the future potential of facial prosthetics as a modality of head and