Tech-savvy Laboratory Uses Specialized Skills to Rebuild Faces

Stop by Michigan Technical Implant Prosthetics Unlimited in Clarkston, Michigan, and, chances are, you'll think you've stumbled upon a Hollywood special effects set. But don't be fooled. The lifelike silicone ears, noses and eyes in the laboratory are much-needed facial prostheses for real people.

Owner David Guelde, CDT, MPT, trained as a dental technician at Ferris State University and as a maxillofacial prosthetic technician at Indiana University's dental technology maxillofacial prosthetics program. While the bulk of the lab's work is complex implant cases, he and his two staff technicians also fabricate artificial facial prostheses for patients who are missing body parts as a result of a birth defect, injury or cancer, and can also fix the dental problems that often accompany them.

For example, many of the lab's cancer patients have had surgery to remove part of their face or head--leaving a large cavity--and they also often need new teeth...