An innovative universal protocol for orthognathic surgery three-dimensional virtual simulation.

The aim of this technical note is to describe a protocol for three-dimensional virtual simulation of orthognathic surgery that has been designed to be easily implemented, without the need for any special clinical apparatus, software brand, or computed tomography sequence. The protocol comprises innovative concepts and simplified steps for image segmentation, creation of a composite skull, control of the condylar position, and sequencing of bimaxillary surgery. This protocol was applied by the developers in about 2000 cases performed between 2015 and 2022, and has become quite popular among local surgeons. Previous preliminary studies have shown that it meets the accuracy standards for clinical use, although further studies with larger numbers of patients are desirable for additional validation.

Preheating impact on the degree of conversion and water sorption/solubility of selected single-bottle adhesive systems.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the degree of conversion (DC) and the water sorption/solubility of preheated single-bottle adhesive systems. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Five adhesive systems were tested: Adper Easy One and Adper Single Bond 2 (3M ESPE), Excite and Tetric N-Bond (Ivoclar/Vivadent), and XP Bond (Dentsply/Caulk). After storage for two hours at 25°C or 60°C, 50 samples (n=5) were prepared for all adhesive systems and stored dry in lightproof containers at 37°C for 24 hours. Fourier transform infrared/attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy was used to evaluate the DC, and water sorption/solubility was measured by means of mass loss and gain after water storage. The data were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's test (p<0.05). RESULTS: Preheated adhesive systems showed statistically significantly higher DC than those kept at 25°C. Except for XP Bond, preheated adhesive systems presented statistically significantly lower water sorption/solubility means. CONCLUSIONS: Preheating improved the DC for all tested adhesive systems. Also, it promoted a decrease of water sorption/solubility, except for the XP Bond adhesive system.