Virtual Orthodontic Surgical Planning to Improve the Accuracy of the Surgery-first Approach: A Prospective Evaluation

Purpose We developed an innovative computer-assisted method to increase the accuracy of the surgery-first (SF) approach by linking the virtual orthodontic plan (VOP) with the virtual surgical plan (VSP). Materials and Methods Fifteen consecutive patients were enrolled from 2013 to 2015. All 15 patients had initially undergone cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT; 15 × 15 field-of-view) and intraoral digital scanning of the dental arches. The DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) data set and STL files were processed using the SimPlant OO however, the VSP should be rendered more reproducibly in the future to minimize the need for orthodontic compensation and to maximize the advantages of SF.