Analysis Of Soft Tissue Changes Before And After Orthognathic Surgery Using A 3-Dimensional Camera-An Interventional Clinical Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: Orthognathic surgery is a surgical procedure employed to align the maxilla and mandible to each other and is used to correct various dentofacial anomalies and skeletal discrepancies after growth has ceased of an individual. Orthognathic surgery alters the facial soft tissue contours by changing the underlying skeletal tissue, it is therefore used to create a more attractive face. Facial soft tissue analysis is an important step in the pre-surgical planning and evaluation of a patient. Cephalometry is usually the method used to analyse the results of orthognathic surgery, it is however predominantly useful in the analysis of hard tissue landmarks. 2-D cephalometry helps us assess lateral profile and provides little to no information regarding facial soft tissue. There are many surgical planning tools and applications available that help the dentist as well as the patient view the probable results after orthognathic surgery, but most of them are based on 2-D cephalometric data and their lateral superimpositions with 2-D photographs. 3D cameras have been in use for the analysis of facial soft tissue landmarks and have a high resolution that yields accurate and reproducible data. 3D cameras allow for analysis of frontal views that are not possible by lateral cephalometry. Moreover, 3D camera images can be zoomed, rotated and translated, providing realistic results of the effects of planned orthodontic and surgical treatment. The purpose of this study is to utilize a 3D camera system to quantitatively analyse soft tissue changes after orthognathic surgery.