Table 2. Main general characteristics of the included studies.
| Study | Study objectives | Study design | Type of participants | Sample size | Growth status | Time span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almukhtar et al., PLoS One (2014) |
To compare the trueness of voxel-based registration and surface-based registration for 3D assessment of surgical change following orthognathic surgery. | Retrospective (radiographs) // prospective methodological study | pre- & post-orthognatic surgery CBCTs | 31 Patients | Non-growing | min. 6 months |
| Bazina et al., Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop (2018) |
To evaluate the reproducibility of Dolphin voxel-based superimposition and its agreement with ITK-Snap+3D Slicer superimposition. | Retrospective (Scans) // prospective methodological study | Pre- and post-1-jaw or 2-jaw orthognatic surgery including LeFort I osteotomy, bilateral sagittal split osteotomy, or genioplasty CBCTs | 31 Patients | Non-growing (21 ± 8 years, range: 15-47 years) | 13 months (within 1 month prior surgery and 12 months after surgery) |
| Cevidanes et al., Dentomaxillofac Radiol (2005) |
To determine the reproducibility of voxel-based superimposition to evaluate mandibular ramus changes in maxillary orthognatic surgery patients. | Prospective methodological study | Pre- and post-orthognatic surgery CBCTs | 10 Patients | Non-growing | 1 week |
| Cevidanes et al., Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop (2009) |
To determine the reproducibility of voxel-based superimpositions to evaluate overall facial changes in growing patients. | Retrospective (radiographs) // prospective methodological study | Pre- and post-orthopedic treatment of Class III malocclusion with miniplates CBCTs | 3 Patients | Growing (mean age: 11.4 years) | 1 year |
| Gkantidis et al., PLoS One (2015) |
To test the applicability, trueness, precision, and reproducibility of various 3D superimposition techniques for radiographic data, transformed to triangulated surface data. | Retrospective (radiographs) // prospective methodological study | Pre- and post-rapid maxillary expansion CTs | 8 Patients | Non-growing (median age: 16.2 years) | 10–23 days |
| Ghoneima et al., Orthod Craniofac Res (2017) |
To evaluate the reproducibility of landmark-based, surface-based and voxel-based superimpositions, as well as their performance in matching duplicated scans. | Retrospective (CBCT images) // prospective methodological study | Pre- and post-correction of Class II malocclusion with Herbst appliance CBCTs | 20 Patients (9 males, 11 females) | Growing (range: 8-15 years) | NA |
| Häner et al., Orthod Craniofac Res (2019) |
To evaluate the trueness, reproducibility and segmentation effect on hard tissue outcomes using voxel-based superimposition. | Retrospective (CBCT images) // prospective methodological study | Orthodontic patients without accounting for performed treatment or skeletal growth pattern CBCTs | 15 Patients (8 males, 7 females) | Growing (11.75 ± 0.59 years) | 1.69 ± 0.37 years |
| Koerich et al., Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg (2016) |
To evaluate the reproducibility of a superimposition method for the maxilla and mandible in non-growing patients. | Retrospective (radiographs) // prospective methodological study | 1. Two serial CBCT images of dry skulls after changing their position 2. Two serial CBCT images of orthodontic or wisdom tooth surgery patients |
1. 2 Dry skulls 2. 15 Patients |
Non-growing | 12.3 months (range: 4–24 months) |
| Koerich et al., Angle Orthod (2017) |
To evaluate the reproducibility of a voxel-based superimposition of the mandible in growing patients. | Retrospective (scans) // prospective methodological study | Pre- and post-rapid palatal expansion CBCTs | 24 Patients | Growing (mean age: 10.8 ± 1.7 years) | 16 ± 2.9 months |
| Lemieux et al., Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop (2014) |
To evaluate the trueness of a maxillary superimposition plane using the nasomaxillary complex as reference. | Retrospective (CBCT images) // prospective methodological study | Pre- and post-rapid palatal expansion CBCTs | 30 Patients | Growing (dental age of 12) | within 12 months |
| Nada et al., PLoS One (2011) |
To evaluate the trueness and reproducibility of a semi-automated voxel-based registration on two regions: 1. anterior cranial base and 2. zygomatic arches | Retrospective (radiographs) // prospective methodological study | Pre- and-post-orthognatic surgery CBCTs | 16 Patients | Non-growing (mean age: 26 ± 9 years) | 18 ± 4.6 months |
| Nguyen et al., Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop (2017) |
1. To identify stable anatomical regions in the mandible. 2. To evaluate the reproducibility of the chin+symphysis registration. |
Retrospective (CBCT images) // prospective methodological study | 1. CBCTs of 20 Class III patients with bone plates and screws in the mandibular anterior area 2. Pre- and post-correction of Class II with Herbst appliances CBCTs (n = 10); Pre- and post-correction of Class II with elastics CBCTs (n = 10); Pre- and post-correction of Class III with bone anchors CBCTs (n = 5) |
25 Patients |
Growing (mean age: 12.7 ± 1.4 years) | 1. 1.2 years 2.12.6 ± 0.9 months |
| Ruellas et al., Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop (2016a) |
To evaluate the differences between voxel-based registration on 2 regions of the maxilla (1. Maxillary region and 2. Palate and Infrazygomatic region) and the reproducibility of each technique | Retrospective (radiographs) // prospective methodological study | Pre- and post-rapid maxillary expansion for crossbite correction (n = 8) and Pre- and post-correction of Class II malocclusion with Herbst appliance (n = 8) | 16 Patients | Growing (9–13 years) | 6 months |
| Ruellas et al., PLoS One (2016b) |
To evaluate superimposition of serial mandibular models on 3 reference regions (Björk, modified Björk and mandibular body) as compared to directly measured changes in interlandmark distances. | Retrospective (radiographs) // prospective methodological study | NA | 16 Patients | growing (9–13 years) | min. 18 months |
| Weissheimer et al., Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg (2015) |
To evaluate the trueness of a voxel-based superimposition technique using the anterior cranial base as reference for growing and non-growing patients | Retrospective (radiographs) // prospective methodological study | 1. Pre-treated images reoriented and superimposed on the original (n = 10) 2. Pre- and post-orthognatic surgery (n = 4) 3. Pre- and post-rapid palatal expansion (n = 4) Time span: 1 year |
18 Patients | 1. Growing (11.4 ± 1 year) 2. Non-growing (26.3 ± 5.7 years) 3. Growing (9.5 ± 1.8 years) |
1 year |