Virtual surgical planning in orthognathic surgery: a dental hospital's 10-year experience

PurposeThe primary objective of this study was to evaluate how the utilization of virtual surgical planning (VSP) and the epidemiological profile of patients undergoing orthognathic surgery (OGS) have changed in the past decade.MethodsThe records of patients who had undergone orthognathic surgery at a national dental hospital were reviewed. Trends in VSP, epidemiological data, presentation of dentofacial deformity, and management details were recorded.ResultsA total of 1184 patients were included in this study. The majority of the patients seeking treatment in this dental hospital were young Chinese adults with dentofacial deformities requiring bimaxillary surgeries. Most patients presented with a skeletal Class III pattern (79.0%), and asymmetry was diagnosed in 80.8% of all cases.ConclusionThere was an initial slow pick-up rate for VSP, but this rapidly increased to a high adoption rate of 98.7-100% between 2019 and 2021. Together with an increasing body of evidence suggesting greater accuracy in VSP, utilization in this technology can be enhanced with greater familiarity with the technology and improvements in the VSP services.