PREDICTING SOFT-TISSUE CHANGES IN MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT SURGERY - A COMPARISON OF 2 VIDEO IMAGING-SYSTEMS

The purpose of this study waste evaluate the accuracy of two video ima ging systems, Prescription Portrait and Orthognathic Treatment Planner , in predicting the soft tissue profiles of 39 patients who underwent mandibular advancement surgery. Presurgical cephalograms and profile p hotographs were entered into a computer. Computerized cephalometric li ne and video image predictions were generated and compared with the ac tual postsurgical results. The results indicate that both programs wer e equally accurate clinically in their line drawing and video image pr edictions. In the line drawings, clinically acceptable accuracy was sh own in approximately 80% of the upper lip and chin predictions and in less than 50% of the lower lip predictions. The video images produced by both programs received fair to good ratings from a panel of profess ional and lay judges. Orthodontists and surgeons rated ail aspects of the images similarly, while lay people were most critical of the chin and submental areas and least critical in their overall evaluation.