Skeletal stability of bioresorbable fixation in orthognathic surgery: A systemic review

BackgroundOver the past 20 years, there has been an increase in the use of bioresorbable fixation system in orthognathic surgery, but concerns remain about the stability of fixation. This review is to seek evidence for the effectiveness of bioresorbable fixation systems compared to titanium systems used for orthognathic surgery.MethodsA systematic review of the scientific literature listed on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Systemic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials was performed, up to December 2012.ResultsTwenty articles were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria: five RCTs and fifteen prospective. We compared these studies, published between 1997 and 2012 and involving 1092 participants examining skeletal stability of bioresorbable fixation in orthognathic surgery.ConclusionThis review found that the published data have shown that bioresorbable fixation systems produce reliable skeletal stability.