Surgical benefit of mandibular morphometric analysis: A new tool to standardize mandibular reconstruction

The gold-standard for reconstruction of large mandibular defects is the use of free flaps of vascularized autologous bone with the fibula as the preferred donor site. The use of "custom cutting guides" for this indication is becoming increasingly prevalent. But cost of the procedure averages around 2,500 dollars per patient excluding treatment and entails selection criteria. We think it is possible to standardize mandibular reconstructions from an anatomical mean. The objective of this study was to perform a mandibular morphometric analysis in order to obtain a set of "mean" measurements, which can be used by all surgeons interested in mandibular reconstruction.

We performed a morphometric analysis consisting of three-dimensional mandibular reconstructions of 30 men and 30 women. Several reference points were set and defined to evaluate specific lengths and angles of interest. We conducted an intra and inter-sexual descriptive analysis of measurements obtained.

We did not identify any major intra-sexual differences within each group. The gonial angle is more open in women and the measurements characterizing the basilar contour are more prominent in men. We did not identify any differences in alveolar region parameters.

The results of this study constitute a morphological tool for surgeons, from bone graft to free flap. These results also confirm us that the use of «custom cutting guides» for mandibular reconstruction may be excessive. It is pertinent to examine the value of "custom made" mandibular reconstructions since the differences observed are of the order of millimeters.