Facial casts (moulage) of infants with cleft defects during nasoalveolar molding.

摘要

Three-dimensional (3D) capture of the surface of soft tissue is a desirable aid for documentation and therapy planning in reconstructive surgery concerning the complex anatomy of the face, particularly for cleft lip and palate (CLP). Over the past 10 years, presurgical nasoalveolar molding (PNAM) has been an integral part of the craniofacial team's preliminary unilateral CLP and bilateral CLP treatment protocol. Accurate appraisal of nasoalveolar molding (NAM) treatment results, as well as the primary lip closure procedure, in patients with cleft defects is essential to correlate PNAM appliance modifications and the initial pretreatment state. Most traditional soft tissue records such as photography1 have been 2-dimensional. Nonetheless, the possibility of recording the facial surface in 3 dimensions exists. This can be performed by either generation of plaster facial casts2'3 after alginate impressions or digitalization of the facial surface by use of 3D scanners.4 Digital face recording benefits from the fact that it is contact free, but the required 3D scanners are very expensive and are available only at specialized research centers.