Current methods of assessing the accuracy of three-dimensional soft tissue facial predictions: technical and clinical considerations

Since the introduction of three-dimensional (3D) orthognathic planning software, studies have reported on their predictive ability. The aim of this study was to highlight the limitations of the current methods of analysis. The predicted 3D soft tissue image was compared to the postoperative soft tissue. For the full face, the maximum and 95th and 90th percentiles, the percentage of 3D mesh points ≤2 mm, and the root mean square (RMS) error, were calculated. For specific anatomical regions, the percentage of 3D mesh points ≤2 mm and the distance between the two meshes at 10 landmarks were determined. For the 95th and 90th percentiles, the maximum difference ranged from 7.7 mm to 2.2 mm and from 3.7 mm to 1.5 mm, respectively. The absolute mean distance ranged from 0.98 mm to 0.56 mm and from 0.91 mm to 0.50 mm, respectively. The percentage of mesh with ≤2 mm for the full face was 94.4–85.2% and 100–31.3% for anatomical regions. The RMS error ranged from 2.49 mm to 0.94 mm. The majority of mean linear distances between the surfaces were ≤0.8 mm, but increased for the mean absolute distance. At present the use of specific anatomical regions is more clinically meaningful than the full face. It is crucial to understand these and adopt a protocol for conducting such studies.