Posted October 04, 2017 in News
There are many hours spent behind the scenes planning your jaw surgery. This blog post will give you an insight into what is involved.
There have also been some exciting developments in the area of 3D Jaw Surgery Planning that we would love to share with you.
What happens at your initial jaw surgery consultation?
When you come and meet your Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon for the first time at Profilo Surgical he will discuss jaw surgery in general terms.
Your surgeon will be able to show you previous cases and what outcomes he has been able to achieve for those with similar concerns as you. He will answer your questions.
Your surgeon will be able to give you an idea of the surgery proposed for you. However without appropriate records this will not yet be a definitive plan.
You have decided to proceed with surgery or investigate further?
Once you have decided to proceed to the planning stage of surgery we will arrange a CT scan for you. This CT scan must be done to our specific protocol so we are able to manipulate the data in preparation for 3D Jaw Surgery Planning.
The data from this scan is used to “segment” the facial bones. This process results in your Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon being able to move the maxilla (top jaw) and mandible (lower jaw) independent of each other, and the rest of the facial bones. Using these “segmented” images we are able to plan the optimum jaw movements for your individual case.
A CT scan obtained not using our specific protocol may mean we are unable to “segment” your facial bones.
What do we do with 3D Jaw Surgery Planning?
This is the exciting stuff.
Traditionally Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons have either used surgical splints or based on clinical judgement when it comes to positioning the jaws during surgery.
Using clinical judgement when deciding where a maxilla should be positioned is very subjective. It is difficult to assess how much movement is achieved in all directions at the same time. It is also very difficult to assess the aesthetics of the movement when a patient is draped in surgery and the facial features are obscured. A discrepancy of millimeters can make a difference in aesthetics and function when completed.
The surgical splint is a piece of acrylic made to fit the surfaces of your teeth, both top and bottom. When it is placed in your mouth the tops of teeth will fit into indentations on the splint.