Endangered Turtle is given 3D-printed jaw made from titanium (Video)

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may have had bulletproof shells, but this loggerhead turtle is the world’s first to have a titanium jaw.

Vets in Turkey teamed up with a medical 3D printing company to produce a replacement jaw for the marine reptile after he was badly injured in a collision with a boat.

The team recreated the powerful upper and lower jaw of the 45kg (100lbs) turtle using medical scans of the remaining jaw and turtle skeletons.They then printed the prosthesis using medical-grade titanium before it was surgically attached to the turtle in a two-and-a-half-hour long operation.

The turtle, which has been nicknamed AKUT3, is now recovering well, according to the team, and they hope to release him back into the wild once he has fully recovered.

The next step will be to teach the turtle to use his new jaw and gradually get him used to feeding himself again.
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