Expertise · PSI
Patient-specific implants and virtual planning
Patient-specific implants are not a separate procedure: they are the guides and plates used in orthognathic surgery to improve accuracy and precision. Virtual planning is now standard; what is not standard is knowing how much of the plan actually survives the transfer into the operating room.
In plain terms
The operation is rehearsed on a 3D model of the patient's face first, and the plates are made to fit that patient only.
For patientsThe research question
Splints versus custom guides and plates, virtual versus physical model surgery, one guide design versus another, and whether the technical difficulty of a case changes how accurate the result is.
In the operating room
Guides position the cuts and the bone segments; the plates are shaped to the planned position, so fixing them reproduces the plan.
Selected work