Different Modalities to Record and Transfer Natural Head Position to Virtual Planning in Orthognathic Surgery: Case...

To describe different modalities to record and transfer natural head position (NHP) to 3D facial imaging by using the virtual surgical planning software in three facial asymmetry patients.

Three patients with facial asymmetries (A, B, and C) were evaluated by means of dental and facial analysis, photographs, cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and digitized dental arches. Before starting the VSP workflow with Dolphin Imaging, NHP was recorded by three modalities and transferred to three-dimensional (3D) facial images as follows: (a) facial photographs taken with digital camera and the estimated NHP was transferred to 3D images by comparing lines and planes from both images; (b) cross-line level laser was used to place radiopaque markers on the face skin for recording the estimated NHP, which was transferred to 3D images by alignment of planes and markers in the software; and (c) photographs of the face were processed to generate facial surface mesh by using the Agisoft PhotoScan software, which maintained the same position of the estimated NHP in 3D for aligning the images of the soft tissue with the facial surface mesh by using superimposition. All the three patients underwent bi-maxillary orthognathic surgery.

There are different modalities using simple and available technologies in the clinical routine, but whose reproducibility, reliability and validation could not be assessed nor compared to each other. There was no trend for better predictability, feasibility and efficiency because the postoperative outcomes were adequate regarding the patients' satisfaction and facial symmetry.