ABSTRACT
The past few years have seen remarkable developments in the practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery. Innovation can be from basic laboratory research – so-called translational research – which translates from the laboratory to the clinical arena. For example, Figure 25.1 shows an attempt to use bone marrow biopsies to predict outcomes of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma to personalize appropriate treatment. An alternative is commercially sponsored technical innovations, most obvious in the drug world but seen in our field more frequently among the instrument manufacturers (Figures 25.2, 25.3, 25.4 and 25.5). These pictures demonstrate presurgical virtual planning that creates stereolithographic models and surgical positioning jigs for use in resection and reconstruction of benign osseous disease (in this case, an extensive ameloblastoma).
