Technology and Navigation in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

The application of current technology and surgical navigation, similar to other surgical-assistance adjuncts, can be helpful, but can also be associated with complications, if used incorrectly, or even when used correctly. This chapter discusses those potential complications, how to identify them, potentially avoid them, and, when possible, how to manage them. These are discussed in the context of the five phases of computer-aided surgery: data acquisition phase; planning phase; manufacturing phase; surgical phase; and assessment phase. Intraoperative navigation guidance, originally used in neurosurgical and endoscopic sinus surgical procedures, has now been commonly used in craniomaxillofacial surgical procedures such as head and neck oncologic surgery, complex orbital and zygoma repair, and craniofacial surgery. Dental implant dynamic/surgical navigation systems use optical technology to track a patient within space. Dynamic navigation gives the surgeon the ability to use cone beam computed tomography or CT data in live time during surgery to perform more accurate and precise operations.