Advantages of performing mentoplasties with customized guides and plates generated with 3D planning and printing. Results from a series of 23 cases.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the benefits of performing mentoplasty using custom guides and plates in a series of 23 patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An 18-month observational study in 23 patients (16 women, 7 men) who underwent procedures for chin augmentation (n = 15), reduction and centering mentoplasty (n = 6), chin asymmetry correction (n = 1) and placement of a custom chin implant to correct esthetics (n = 1) was conducted in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of Hospital Universitario Dexeus (Barcelona, Spain). RESULTS: A mentoplasty technique using customized surgical guides and plates, performed under local anesthesia and oral sedation, was performed in every case. Surgery times were approximately 45 min. Postoperative recovery was satisfactory in all patients. There were no intraoperative or serious postoperative complications, except for one self-limiting edema and some small hematomas of no clinical significance. Post-operative pain intensity measured by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was less than 3 (mild pain) in 80% and 4-7 (moderate pain) in 20% of patients. CONCLUSION: The results obtained in this study show that using customized surgical guides and plates in performing mentoplasty is an advantage over conventional techniques as they provide greater accuracy and safety in the surgery and more predictable results. This simplifies the procedure.