Patient-Specific Printed Plates Improve Surgical Accuracy In Vitro

Area of Science:

• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Device Technology

Background:

• Orthognathic surgery aims to correct jaw discrepancies.
• Patient-specific implants offer potential for improved surgical accuracy.
• The efficacy of patient-specific printed plates in orthognathic procedures requires further quantification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the in vitro surgical accuracy of patient-specific printed plates in orthognathic surgery.
• To compare in vitro results with actual patient surgical outcomes.
• To assess the potential of patient-specific plates to improve surgical precision.

Main Methods:

• An in vitro study involving 20 patients undergoing maxillary repositioning.
• Three-dimensional models were created from preoperative midfaces.
• Patient-specific plates were used to reposition the dental segment in the 3D models.
• Surgical accuracy was measured by comparing repositioning to the virtual surgical plan.

Main Results:

• The maxilla was repositioned with a mean deviation of 0.5 mm anterior and 0.3 mm inferior to the planned position.
• Patient-specific plates achieved close approximation to the planned maxillary position.
• No surgically relevant differences were observed between planned and achieved repositioning.

Conclusions:

• Patient-specific printed plates demonstrate high accuracy in repositioning the maxilla during orthognathic surgery.
• The achieved repositioning closely approximated the virtual surgical plan.
• Careful intraoperative inspection of the osteotomy site is recommended to prevent plate interference and ensure planned outcomes.