Are Virtually Designed 3D Printed Surgical Splints Accurate Enough for Maxillary Reposition as an Intermediate...

Area of Science:

• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Biomedical Engineering
• 3D Printing Technology

Background:

• Virtual surgical planning and 3D-printed splints offer potential advancements in operating room efficiency.
• Investigating the accuracy of 3D-printed surgical splints is crucial for their clinical adoption.
• Comparison with conventional methods is necessary to validate new technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the accuracy of 3D-printed surgical splints against conventional intermediate splints.
• To evaluate the clinical outcomes of 3D-printed splints versus predicted values.
• To assess the validity of 3D-printed splints in surgical applications for dentofacial deformities.

Main Methods:

• Ten patients with dentofacial deformity underwent conventional and virtual surgical planning.
• Intermediate surgical splints were fabricated using conventional and 3D-printing techniques.
• Maxillary movements were measured, and agreement was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Post-operative outcomes were compared to predictions using paired t-tests.

Main Results:

• Excellent agreement (ICC 0.83-0.99) was observed between 3D-printed and conventional splints in laboratory settings.
• No significant differences in linear measurements were found between the two splint types on an articulator.
• Post-operative cephalometric measurements showed no significant differences compared to pre-operative predictions.

Conclusions:

• 3D-printed surgical splints exhibit acceptable accuracy in three spatial dimensions.
• The study supports the validity of 3D-printed splints for clinical use in orthognathic surgery.
• 3D printing technology shows promise for improving surgical planning and execution.