Reconstructive Surgery
Jaw Reconstruction
The jawbones form an important aesthetic unit of our face and are also indispensable tissues for chewing food and for the swallowing function.
About Jaw Reconstruction
What is Jaw Reconstruction?
The jawbones form an important aesthetic unit of our face and are also indispensable tissues for chewing food and for the swallowing function. However, the gaps that arise from congenital deficiency of the jawbones, loss of bone in this region after trauma, or removal of these tissues because of cancer need to be completed surgically.
With the more widespread and successful use of microsurgical techniques over the last 20-30 years, these repairs can be performed by transferring bone tissue taken from the lower-leg bone, the hip bone, the forearm bone or the shoulder blade, together with its vessels, to the neck. However, even an error of a few millimetres in the repair of the jawbones significantly affects mouth opening and causes pain and loss of function in the jaw joint. For this reason, after the bone transfer, the transferred bone needs to be shaped in repeated sessions.
Today, with the development of 3D computer technologies and software, simulation surgery can be performed for the jaw operations to be carried out on patients. The cuts and shaping to be made on the bones are designed in a computer environment. After the cutting guides needed to make these cuts are also designed, life-size models of the bones and the cutting guides are produced using 3D printers. The cutting templates are tried on the solid models to detect whether there is any production error before they are used on the patient. If a permanent implant is to be placed in the patient during the operation, this implant must also be planned specifically for the individual and produced using medical titanium. Apart from fixing the bones that need to be fixed in their correct positions and in absolute immobility, these implants can also be used, especially in the facial region, to give contour (external shape) to the soft tissues. For example, a patient who has lost tissue as a result of a very serious facial injury can be given a shape resembling their own face with an implant obtained using a facial scan of a close relative.
In an operation undertaken with preparation of this kind, the chance of success rises very considerably and the duration of the operation decreases dramatically. In addition, thanks to this technology, it has now become possible to perform some shaping and repair operations on the facial bones that could not be performed before. In jaw operations, the post-procedure jaw joint functions (opening and closing of the jaw) of the planned lower and upper jaw, the effects on the facial profile and the relationships of the teeth with each other can be planned before the operation.
Computer-assisted jaw surgery is a technology that has developed over the last 5 years and allows us to offer more to our patients with each passing day.
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