3D maxillofacial surgery planning - one decade development of technology

Nowadays, techniques and the use of patient specific implants seem to be the recent high technology standard in reconstructive surgery. Surgery planning is as old as the surgery procedures themselves. Any good surgeon, before entering the operating theatre, has a plan for how to proceed. It is based on knowledge and experience in combination of evaluation of all case relevant information. In fact, virtual surgery planning and CAD/CAM reflects the technological "state of the art" into the medical daily practice. Recently, 3D printing technologies became easy and accessible for everyone. Virtual 3D images substituted the plaster models, the film profile analysis switched to digital, 3D printed bone models of the case helped to understand the morphology of the deformity and prepare the osteotomies with "hands on the bone". The authors' own 20 years of experience on surgical planning, the development of digital technologies in oral and maxillofacial surgery is traced and comments on case examples are presented.