Research Publications

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the accuracy of customized titanium plates in orthognathic
surgery compared to standard outcome in virtual surgical planning. PRISMA and JBI guidelines were
followed. Research protocol was registered in PROSPERO. Six databases and two gray literature
repositories were used as sources of research articles. Descriptive clinical studies, that performed
orthognathic surgery using custom titanium plates, were included. Risk of bias was assessed by ‘‘The
Joanna-Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tools for use in Systematic Reviews Checklist for Case Series’’.
Of the 11,916 studies initially identified, seven met the eligibility criteria and were included. The studies
were published between 2015 and 2019. Most of the studies (57%) had a low risk of bias, while one had a
high risk of bias. Total sample included 74 patients with 63 bimaxillary surgeries and 11 unimaxillary
surgeries. All studies showed acceptable accuracy within previously established clinical parameters.
Although the eligible articles assessed the accuracy of the orthognathic surgery with respect to virtual
planning, the wide variability of evaluation methodologies made it impossible to calculate a combined
accuracy measure. It was not possible to perform a meta-analysis, so a pragmatic recommendation on
the use of these plates is not possible.

 

Keywords:
Orthognathic surgery: CAD-CAM
Bone plates
3D printing