‘Jaw in a Day’ procedure uses leg bone to create new jaw

When a Hillsboro man learned he had a noncancerous tumor in his jaw, he turned to Providence Cancer Institute for help. Doctors performed the innovative “Jaw in a Day” surgery that uses a small bone from the lower leg to shape a new jaw.

Don Welch’s tumor type usually requires many months of surgeries to remove the tumor and rebuild the jaw. But experts at Providence Cancer Institute used the innovative Jaw in a Day procedure to extract the tumor and rebuild his jaw in a single nine-hour surgery.

Baber Khatib, M.D., D.D.S., and other members of the surgical team removed part of Don’s fibula in the lower leg to reshape it into a new noncancerous jaw. The process included careful planning and 3D modeling ahead of time to make sure everything fit and worked seamlessly.

Several months later, Don feels great, talks and eats normally, and has no trouble walking after the partial fibula removal.

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