Computer-Aided Orthognathic Surgery

Virtual surgical planning is an excellent teaching instrument, allowing 3D analysis of the clinical problem and visualization of idealized digital osteotomies and manipulations. The preoperative virtual plan is transferred to patients in 1 of 3 ways depending on the clinical problem. Orthognathic surgery is facilitated by the use of intermediate and final occlusal splints. These splints are designed based the virtual reconstruction of the idealized image of the patients' craniofacial skeleton after correcting for pitch, roll, and yaw. Computer-aided surgery, with the range of techniques discussed in this article, may add safety and predictability to the complete range of oral and maxillofacial surgical procedures and has the potential to replace analytical model surgery as the treatment planning technique of choice in bimaxillary orthognathic surgery.