Abstract: Objective To use 3D printing technology to prefabricate titanium prosthesis and repair craniofacial bones of New Zealand rabbits, and investigate whether the implantation of titanium mesh interferes the growth and development of craniofacial bones of rabbits.Methods Twelve young New Zealand rabbits were scanned by spiral CT thin-film non-pitch scanning to obtain tomographic data for the construction of 3D skull model.3D prototype of prosthesis was created with 3D printer.Titanium alloy restorations and titanium screws were used to repair the defect area.Rabbits were sacrificed 16 weeks after titanium prosthesis implantation.Skull surface was exposed through layer-by-layer separation and stripping and the distance between bilateral bony markers was measured for statistical analysis.Results The development of the frontal bone orbital part of titanium prosthesis was significantly delayed compared with that of the contralateral side (P<0.05), and the long axis of the implanted skull was significantly shorter than that of the contralateral side (P<0.01).There were also significant differences between the left and right cranial heights (P<0.01) and between the distances of preoperative and postoperative bone markers (P<0.05).Conclusion Individualized titanium prosthesis and titanium nail fixed repair hinder the craniofacial bone growth and development of young rabbits, resulting in repair side and contralateral craniofacial bones asymmetry development.Using titanium mesh for skull defect repair of children and infants should be careful.

Key words: 3D printing, Skull repair, New Zealand rabbit, Craniofacial development