Introduction: Our objective was to enable accurate miniscrew placement after preoperative simulation. We developed a new template for miniscrew placement and evaluated its accuracy.
Methods: Eleven patients who had bimaxillary protrusion were scanned with computed tomography. The 3-dimensional computed tomography data were used to produce, with stereolithography apparatus, a template for accurate miniscrew placement. The interradicular space available for miniscrew placement was calculated in the 3-dimensional images. Postoperative computed tomography images were matched with preoperative images to calculate the deviations between the planned and actual placements.
Results: The distance for placement of a miniscrew between 2 roots was 4.12 mm (SD, 0.25 mm; range, 3.7-4.5 mm). The placed miniscrews showed an average angular deviation of 1.2 degrees (SD, 0.43 degrees ; range, 0.6 degrees -2.41 degrees ) compared with the plan, whereas the mean linear distomesial deviation was 0.42 mm (SD, 0.13 mm; range, 0.15-0.6 mm) at the tip.
Conclusions: The proposed template has high accuracy and will be especially useful for patients who require precise miniscrew placement.
2010 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.