IOWA | Woman Shot in Face With a .40 Cal Gets a Second Chance at Smiling With Help of Ai

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) – Doctors in Iowa used artificial intelligence to reconstruct the jaw of a 17-year-old girl who was allegedly shot in the face by her mother’s ex-boyfriend.

Dr. Simon Wright, a facial reconstruction trauma surgeon, first met his patient, 17-year-old Mya Buie, three months ago when the teenager had multiple surgeries to reconstruct her jaw. He calls Buie one of his most memorable and brave patients.

Buie was shot in the face at close range, allegedly by her mother’s ex-boyfriend, during a fight in late October, just days before her 17th birthday.

“It was kind of scary. It was traumatic,” the teen said.

The impact of the .40-caliber bullet shattered Buie’s jaw into tiny fragments and permanently damaged four of her teeth.

In his 23 years as a trauma surgeon, Wright says he can’t remember an injury as bad as Buie’s. While still in the intensive care unit, the 17-year-old underwent two surgeries: the first to stabilize her jaw and the second to rebuild it.

“There is a lot of things that have to go right to do any kind of surgery at all, and to do something complicated like this… it’s really an inspiring thing to be part of,” Wright said.

For years, the surgeon has reconstructed facial bones by bending and molding titanium plates by hand to the injured area. It’s a time-consuming and often erroneous process. Now, that manual work has been replaced with modern technology.

Doctors used AI to read a CT scan of Buie’s jaw. Then, a 3D printer turned that image into a customized jawbone plate, which doctors say allows for a more accurate fit, better aligns the jaw with a patient’s teeth and cuts surgery time in half.

“It’s so much easier than trying to bend a plate over and over again to get it perfect,” Wright said. “It’s no question a gamechanger.”

Buie’s customized plate was made in record time, a first for Des Moines trauma surgeons. What would normally take several weeks took only a few days.

“The ability to make a custom plate has been around for 10 years or more, but the ability to do it very quickly has not been,” Wright said.

Doctors expect Buie to make a full recovery. Her new jawbone plate will eventually fuse to bone and be as strong as ever.

As she continues to heal, Buie considers her story a miracle.

“I thank God every day for giving me a second chance at life. I’m very grateful… I can tell this story and spread the word of God, like a testament,” she said.

Next month, the teen will receive dental implants for her missing teeth.