Aesthetic Evaluation of Soft Tissue Profile Prediction with Video Imaging

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to verify the precision of a video imaging software (Vistadent / GAC Intl.) on the soft tissue profile prediction of patients who underwent different types of orthognatic surgery. Methods: Preoperative and posttreatment lateral cephalograms and photographs of 32 patients (24 females and 8 males) were used. Cephalometric and photography profile predictions were obtained from hard tissue movements on the preoperative tracings. Prediction and posttreatment profile images were subjectively compared by 20 orthodontists. Five regions (overall profile, nose, upper lip, lower lip and chin) were graded from 0 to 100 with an increasing similarity visual analog scale. This subjective analysis was applied to the total sample and to groups with maxillary impaction or downgraft (V) or without surgeries in the vertical plane (AP). Results: Means, standard deviations, maximum and minimum values of the grades were obtained in the subjective analysis and groups AP and V were compared with the Mann- Whitney test. The subjective analysis showed greater mean values in comparison with other studies, varying from 56 for the lower lip to 75.42 for the nose. Conclusions: Prediction images quality showed no significant difference between cases with or without vertical changes. Other factors such as digital software failures, patient individual aspects and photographic standardization problems were involved in the computerized prediction process.