A 3-dimensional method for analyzing the morphology of patients with maxillofacial deformities

IntroductionTraditionally, cephalograms have been used to evaluate a patient's maxillofacial skeleton and facial soft-tissue morphology. However, magnification and distortion of the cephalograms make detailed morphologic analysis difficult in patients with complex deformities. The purpose of this article was to introduce a new method for visualizing deformation and deviation of the maxillofacial skeleton and facial soft tissues.MethodsStandard 3-dimensional Japanese head models were sized to match the sella-to-nasion distance obtained from 2 patients' (1 man, 1 woman) maxillofacial skeletal images. Then, the scaled standard model was superimposed on each patient's 3-dimensional computed tomography image.ResultsThis system provided clear shape information independent of size and facilitated the visualization of shape variations in maxillofacial skeletal and facial soft-tissue morphology.ConclusionsThis method will be useful for 3-dimensional morphologic analysis of patients with jaw deformities.