An Overview of Computer-Assisted Navigation: Guiding the Surgeon’s Knife in Maxillofacial Surgery

Oral and maxillofacial region has a complex anatomy with numerous blood vessels and critical organs in its association. To ensure the safety and reliability of the operative procedures in this region numerous techniques of surgery are there from conventional to advanced. Surgeries with minimal invasive procedures such as computer-assisted navigation systems have been proposed.This review overviews the navigation system its working principle and its applications in oral and maxillo-facial surgeries. Computer-assisted navigation can be now recognized as a minimal invasive procedure and proves to be a boon in surgeries in the oral and maxillofacial regions. The navigation system guides the surgeon and has accuracy and precision preserving the complex anatomy of the oral region. It has proved to be effective in various surgeries such as orthognathic complex dental alveolar surgeries traumatic cases etc.