Novel Approach to 3D Simulation of Soft Tissue Changes After Orthognathic Surgery

This research paper discusses a novel approach to simulate soft tissue changes after Orthognathic surgery. Since the surgery is complex, it is reliable to simulate the outcome which ultimately benefits both doctor and the patient. It lets doctors give patients a more accurate picture of the surgery outcome and improve their decision-making. However, the current simulation models like Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Mass Tensor Model (MTM), and Mass Spring Model (MSM) are computationally expensive. Commercial solutions like Dolphin, and Surgicase are costly, complicated, and need extensive training. Thus, it’s difficult for small-scale medical practices and public hospitals to adapt to these existing solutions. In our proposed approach, the lower area of the face is divided into 10 regions, and by considering the bone-to-soft tissue movement ratio of each region and a custom fall-off algorithm, the 3D face mesh is changed to reflect the planned changes. These changes can be done in a customized way because the implemented application allows changing the value of bone movement, texture scale, and other properties. This allows doctors in a well-informed, easy decision-making process on how much the bone tissue should move to get the best possible outcome. Then after adding skin texture the final 3D prediction is achieved. A working browser-based application was implemented using ThreeJS, and the preliminary results of the experiments were promising. The accuracy and other aspects of this approach are yet to be evaluated systematically.