Optimizing surgical results from facial trauma through a facial basal registration

Abstract

Surgery is the treatment of choice for most of maxillofacial fractures (MFF). Hence, three-dimensional (3D) virtual planning with computer software technologies and navigation assisted surgery has emerged as an integral tool through the mirroring hemifaces technique. However, the aforementioned protocol is not advisable for asymmetric faces nor is it applicable for bilateral MFF. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to describe an innovative workflow based on keeping a prior 3D registry of the healthy patient or so called “facial print”. This protocol includes a scan of the patient, surface intraoral scanning of both dental arches and photographs, and the subsequent fusion of the three data sets. Twenty subjects who were interested in having a “facial print” were enrolled in the trial. The studied sample comprised of 12 women and 8 men with a mean age of 35.7 years. Total patient registration time for the three records was on average 13 minutes and the matching work for “virtual patient” generation took another 15 minutes on average. In conclusion, this innovative workflow has the potential to improve surgical accuracy and predictability, reduce operative time and level up surgeon’s comfort.