3D Printed Surgical Guides in Orthognathic Surgery—A Pathway to Positive Surgical Outcomes

Abstract

Rapid advancements in robotics and computer-aided surgeries have revolutionized the field of medicine and surgery. Maxillofacial surgery has benefited from these technological advances as significant contributions have been made in the management of complex soft tissue and bony pathologies. These technologies are especially useful in patients with post-traumatic defects and also cases with esthetic facial deformities. Defects in the craniofacial skeleton are of either congenital, developmental, traumatic, or pathological ethology. The primary purpose of correcting facial anomalies is for functional rehabilitation. The esthetic rehabilitation of a patient is very challenging. It is important to achieve excellent postoperative form and function and also to minimize operative and postoperative morbidity. Rapid prototyping biomodels that are being used in recent times are playing a very significant role not only for patient education, diagnosis of defects but also in surgical planning. Their use in surgical planning reduces anesthesia time, reduces operating time, and provides better esthetic and functional results. The integration of 3D imaging and computerized surgery continues to bring about newer and better changes in the conventional surgeries making the outcome much more beneficial to the patient [1]. We present a case of facial deformity in the form of maxillary excess and retrogenia corrected using orthognathic surgery supported by the use of surgical guides fabricated using additive manufacturing.